The Going's On: Real Life
by ChloeRhiannonX
Summary: A year has passed since Courtney left, but Duncan hasn't been able to let go of her completely. Halfway through her training, Courtney bumps into some old friends, willing to do anything to get her back, but at what cost? Because if the Tracker's can't have you, no one can. Sequel to Just The Beginning. Book two in The Going's On series.
1. Hello Again

**Chapter One**

**Hello Again**

Three girls sat in the already too crowded dorm room. They were engaged deep in a conversation that consisted of Lindsay trying to persuade the other girls that a trip to the market was right up their street.

Heather was sat on her bed, contemplating over the question. Lindsay was sitting beside her, pulling the best puppy dog eyes she could manage. Courtney was sitting at her desk. She wasn't bothered with Lindsay's constant whining that she never did anything fun. This was no exception. Courtney had her nose buried in a textbook for one of her many classes at Tracker Academy. The past eleven months hadn't changed Courtney out of her studying habits, but it had changed her out of many other ones. For instance, she rarely wore her own clothes any more. Ever since she realized that to blend in at the Academy she decided to dress more like a Tracker. The shabby red t-shirt and army green shorts were now an everyday part of her wardrobe. On the other side of things, Courtney was still her usual bossy self.

"It'll be fun," Lindsay whined, begging the two girls to come with her. Lindsay wasn't a Tracker, but she wasn't being hunted by them either, which gave her access to the Academy. Legend told that mermaid's once helped Tracker's catch a rare creature and ever since they had cut a deal to never hurt each other's kind. Courtney had learnt that pretty quick during her time at the Academy.

Courtney heaved a sigh. Lindsay smiled hopefully. The brunette swiveled her chair around to face her roommate and friend. She stared between the two of them, waiting for someone to say something. The three girls had been close friends ever since Courtney had joined the Academy. She didn't really have any friends, if you didn't count baby-faced Izzabelle or Alan, who drooled over any woman that would look at him.

"I'm up for it," Courtney smiled. The other two followed suit.

"You two go without me, I've got things to do," Heather said, getting up from her bed and grabbing at her laundry pile. Heather didn't actually do her own laundry, she had one of the younger students do it for her- that was actually how Courtney had met Izzabelle.

Courtney bit her lip, turning to face her textbook. "Maybe I should stay and do some more work." The Asian girl dropped her laundry basket and slammed the textbook shut.

"All you do is work, go have fun." Heather didn't give advice. Heather gave orders. Though she wasn't wrong. Ever since Courtney had started at the Tracker Academy she had thrown herself head first into her work. At first it was a way to distract herself from her old life and make sure she secured a place at the Academy. Eleven months later and it had just become a way of life for Courtney.

"Come on," Lindsay cried, grabbing at Courtney's hand and half dragging her out the door. Heather rolled her eyes and watched as the two headed down the corridor towards the exit.

* * *

"Are you coming or not?" Taylor shouted up the staircase. Her cousin was purposely doing this, she just knew it. He knew the street market closed in four hours and was determined to let her spend as little time there as possible.

"I'm coming, chill out," Duncan yelled back. Taylor rolled her eyes. Geoff grinned at his best friend as he came down the stairs, dragging his feet as he came.

"Don't be sulky," the blonde boy teased.

Duncan let out a groan. "Endless hours of watching girls trying on clothes and carrying their bags as they shop for more; how could I be so sulky?" Duncan replied sarcastically, adding his own eye roll to the end as he skipped the last step. He was purposely not using his vampire speed just to annoy his cousin further. Taylor was giving him angry eyes from the kitchen doorway.

"Come one," Ellie whined from beside her brother. "Or all the good clothes will be gone.

"And what a shame that will be."

"We know!" Bridgette cried. "So let's go!"

The girls had planned a day at the street market in the center of Growlen. It came around every few months and they were always excited to attend. They usually dragged their respective boyfriends along and this year Taylor was forcing her cousin. Everyone needed someone to carry their bags, after all.

The small group exited Scarlatina through the main gates, walking to the nearest bus stop where they caught the 36B to the Growlen Center. It was a mass of stores and malls with a large grassy area in the middle where the street market had set itself up between the cobbled pathways.

The closer they got the market the more suspicious Ellie became. She sniffed the air and caught a large whiff of something that wasn't unexpected. "There's Tracker's here." She whispered.

"We're in the city, of course there'll be Tracker's." Leah replied as she approached the group. She had arrived early to the street market. The half-breed flipped her long red hair over one shoulder and started walking back towards the street market.

Trent slung his arm around Ellie's shoulder, pulling her closer for a sisterly hug. Leah wasn't always the nicest of people. The werewolf sniffed the air too and did note the amount of Tracker's that were around- there usually weren't so many at Growlen Center at once- but one scent stuck out to him more than others.

"Can you smell that?" Trent whispered to Ellie. "I'd recognize that scent anywhere."

Ellie sniffed the air again before scrunching up her face. "Should I?" She asked. Trent looked at her for a moment, but she obviously didn't know what he was talking about. He dropped his arm back to his side and shook his head; maybe he was mistaken.

"I guess not."

The group continued walking, looking through stalls, grabbing all the bargains. At least the girls were having fun. The boys found themselves at an outdoor cafe, watching the shopping bags while the girls dashed off to a nearby accessories stall with a massive 'SALE' sign stuck all around.

Bridgette ran her hand over a wooden display case, noticing a pair of turquoise earrings that she knew would match one of the new dresses she'd already bought. She stuck her hand out to grab them, but another girl went for them at the same time.

"Oh, sorry," the two girls said at the same time, each pulling their hand back from the earrings. Bridgette looked up to apologize again but squealed in delight instead, "Lindsay!" The two blondes pulled each other in for a friendly hug as the other girls started to crowd around.

"Oh my gosh, BRENDA!" Lindsay cried, tightening the hug. Bridgette didn't even care that Lindsay had gotten her name wrong, she was just happy to see her old friend again. Bridgette knew Lindsay from elementary school. The two had managed to keep each others secrets (the one where Bridgette's a fairy and Lindsay's a mermaid) for a long time- mainly from Courtney. Lindsay was originally from Growlen, but not from Scarlatina. Lindsay's parents were from Indicenta, a neighboring town, and after the Tracker's had invaded Muskoka, they had moved back there- even though Mermaid's weren't being hunted.

"Linds, what do you think of-" Courtney stopped herself mid-sentence as she turned to face her friend. She saw who Lindsay was talking to and halted in her steps.

"Well, this is bad," Lindsay said, instantly noticing the tension that clouded the market tent.

"Bad doesn't describe it," Courtney commented. Her eyes didn't leave the group of girls she knew all too well and her chest started to feel a if it was collapsing in on itself.

"Come on, girls," Leah butted in. "We don't need to shop where these sort of bitches do." The vicious redhead turned to leave with Taylor and Ellie following closely behind.

Courtney wanted to run in the opposite direction at the sound of her cousin's harsh words, but she also knew it was just Leah being Leah. 'She just doesn't understand,' Courtney mumbled internally.

"It was nice seeing you again, Lindsay." Bridgette said though her eyes never left her ex-best friend. "Bye." She turned to follow the other girls with Gwen walking quickly behind, shaking her head as they went.

Courtney's chest didn't feel any better.

* * *

"She's working with you-know-who!" Lindsay explained to he group. They had requested her presence in Scarlatina when they formed an emergency meeting.

"VOLDEMORT?!" Taylor screamed, jumping to her feet, half-scared half-excited. Everyone stopped to stare at her.

"Really, Taylor, Voldemort?" Trent said, looking up at the Vampire. Taylor lowered herself back into her seat. She was just upset that she hadn't seen the day coming. There had been no warning vision about Courtney like she thought there would have been in this situation.

"Continue," she whispered, nodding her head at Lindsay.

"She's working with Heather," the blonde mermaid went onto explain further- mainly for Taylor's benefit. "They're roommates and partners. I'm trying to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do something silly, but," Lindsay shrugged the end of her sentence away. The group gave a collective sigh. It had been almost a year since Courtney had left, but she had been weighing on their minds the whole time.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gwen asked. She figured that Lindsay would have come running to them with this sort of information, anyone with half a brain would have- then again, it was Lindsay. But this information was a lot more important that some people would think.

"I didn't think you guys would understand," Lindsay admitted sheepishly with an embarrassed shrug of her shoulders.

"It's okay," Bridgette smiled, wrapping her arm around Lindsay's shoulder's. "We're not mad, just a little upset."

"Duncan's upset," Leah piped up; she always had to get her two cents worth. Leah didn't see the point of the emergency meeting, she wasn't very interested in Courtney and her new life. "That's why he's not here. He knew we'd be discussing her."

* * *

By the time the clock in the grand hall chimed midnight everyone at the Tracker Academy was sound asleep. Well, almost everyone.

Deep inside the castle turned school, a young girl was out of bed, but not of her own accord. Courtney was being dragged along the deserted hallways, kicking and muffled screaming as she went. The kidnapper found a side door exit and pulled Courtney along before releasing her.

"DUNCAN HUDSON! KEEP YOUR DEAD, COLD, VAMPIRE HANDS OFF OF ME!" Duncan placed his hand back over her mouth. She instantly started screaming into the palm of his hand.

"You may want to keep quiet, Princess," he spoke directly into her ear. "If you don't shut up we'll both get caught." Courtney shot one last insult into the palm of his hand before shutting up. The consequences of being out of bed past curfew were horrific, and Duncan-being a vampire-could run faster than the speed of light, so he wouldn't get caught with her.

Once he was sure she wouldn't scream anymore, he let his hand drop to his side, wiping Courtney's spit into her pants. She glared at him as he did so.

"What are you doing here?" She asked while brushing down her clothes. Being dragged through multiple dusty hallways was not good for cleanliness.

"I needed to see you," he whispered. "Alone." There was something in his voice, a soft hitch that would have gone undetected by anyone who didn't know Duncan as well as Courtney did. And his eyes, the way Courtney found him looking at her, she recognized the look. It was the way he had always looked at her, with adoration and love. Something she had always craved from him.

"Why do y-" The Tracker was shut up by Duncan pressing his lips against her's. Courtney froze on the spot, but didn't push Duncan away. He didn't want to let her go, grasping her tensed arms in his hand, drawing her nearer. This was the kiss they had both been waiting almost a year for.

"That's why." Duncan would have been breathless if he had been human, but the smile on his face sucked all of Courtney's breath away. "I haven't been able to get out out of my mind." While they had been at the street market, Duncan had spotted Courtney with Lindsay. He hadn't said anything to his friends. He had been blown away by the change in her over the past eleven months since they had been together. She had turned into a straight-edged Tracker, but he had always been expecting that. That didn't, however, stop his brain from conjuring up the plan to sneak onto the Tracker grounds in the middle of the night. He knew it was risky, they had security everywhere, but it was the only way he was going to be able to get Courtney alone.

Without a second thought, she pulled him back down for a second kiss. It was more desperate, more fiery and power-hungry than the first one. They needed each other. They had always needed each other.

"If we get caught I am so dead," Courtney gasped.

"Then don't get caught," the vampire whispered, pulling Courtney in for another kiss. And another. And another. And another. They never ran out of love when it came to each other, and they had enough of it stored up from such a long time apart.

They kissed for a long time before Courtney finally came to her senses. She pushed Duncan away from her and stared deep into his eyes. She knew it wasn't right for her to be doing this. She was a Tracker, he was a vampire. She was supposed to be hunting him not making-out with him. It was all starting to sound too much like a bad rom-com to Courtney.

"This is wrong," she told him.

Duncan ran his finger down her cheek and she didn't pull away. "What's wrong?"

"This is!" Courtney yelled, but quickly covered her own mouth when she realized. She lowered her voice, "Me and you Duncan; we can't be together."

Duncan-not being able to take a hint-slid closer to Courtney. Wrapping his strong arms around her he whispered, "Making out doesn't mean we're together."

The Tracker pushed him away. She knew where she stood in her studies and her life, she knew this would never work out between them. "Duncan," Courtney sighed. "I love you too much to be with you." Tears were now starting to form. All Duncan could do was shake his head. Everything he thought he knew about Courtney was wrong.

"You have chosen the worst possible life."

"My life is great," she snapped back. "Why would I want to change that?" Duncan continued to shake his head as the tears started to slowly flow down Courtney's cheeks. She really did love him, but because she loved him she knew she had to push away and out of her life.

Duncan was slowly grasping at the fact that the girl he thought he loved did not want him in her life. He watched as she wiped her cheeks dry. For almost seventeen years Courtney had been in Duncan's life every minute of everyday. He knew where she was and what she was doing and who she was with, it was like clockwork to him. The past eleven months had him thrown out of sync with his life. Duncan found himself lost without someone to watch all the time (Kaly had deny his request to be Princess Arianna's full time bodyguard). He thought he'd had a shot at getting the old way of life back on track, but he was finally starting to see that Courtney was too fond of her new life.

"Fine, if that's the way it has to be-"

"-And it does-"

"-I won't bother coming back again." The vampire looked to he floor and kicked a pebble, scoffing at himself before looking back up at Courtney. "This is all my fault. I never should have told you about this place."

"Don't blame yourself."

"You're only here because you're scared to go to high school," Duncan accused. Courtney didn't bat an eyelash. She was starting shiver in the midnight air, but she didn't care. It froze the tears that wanted to flow right out of her sockets.

"I wasn't scared of going to high school," she calmly replied. "I was scared of people judging me because I couldn't use my-" She stopped and looked around before lowering her voice even further. "Because I couldn't use my powers." Courtney stared down at Duncan's shoes, almost ashamed of herself for being so stupid about it all. She wasn't going to admit to Duncan that she wished she'd chosen differently, Courtney had accepted that this was her life a long time ago.

"No one would treat you differently," Duncan told her with urgency in his voice. "Drop out, move back to Scarlatina." All he wanted for his Princess to return to the castle she belonged to.

"They would now!" She whisper-hissed at him. Everyone in Scarlatina knew who she was and what she had done. If she was a celebrity before she was something new entirely now.

"Why can't you just admit it? You were wrong."

"It's hard to admit something that's not true." Courtney looked over her shoulder to the door that led back into the Academy. It was suddenly very difficult to be around each other.

Duncan wanted to stay with Courtney for as long she would let him, so he changed the subject. "Did you know your dad moved back to Canada?"

"I heard rumors."

"Courtney, come back." The subject change didn't last very long. "The past year I've missed you so much, I just want you back in my life. For good."

Courtney stared up at her ex-boyfriend, running her hand down the side of his face and trying to memorize every feature. She leaned up and gave him a soft peck on the lips. "Goodbye, Duncan." She turned and walked back into the castle.

* * *

Courtney found herself looking for a quiet place to study. Heather had some guy in their room and the library was overly crowded this time of year with summer exams coming up. Though, for once, studying wasn't on Courtney's mind. All she wanted to do was clear her head of everything that had happened the day before. And just when she thought it was going to be impossible, it was confirmed to be.

"Thinking about what to do?" Geoff asked, jogging to catch up to Courtney. Courtney knew if there one person in Scarlatina that wouldn't hate her it was Geoff. "Talk to me about it."

"Duncan's right," Courtney sighed. "The only reason I joined the Academy was because I was scared of going high school." She shook her head at her own foolishness.

Geoff gave Courtney's shoulder a nudge with his own. "You can always come back to Scarlatina." Courtney almost laughed at his foolishness.

"I can't," she replied. "I wish I could, but I can't." She thought Geoff of all people would understand the predicament she was in.

The two kept walking in silence for a few more minutes until they reached the cafe. Courtney gave a half-smile and Geoff laid his hand on her shoulder. "There's always a spot in the pack if you change your mind." He matched Courtney's expression before turning around and heading back in the same direction they had come from.

The young Tracker entered the cafe and ordered her coffee at the counter. While she was waiting, she was was pounced on by a more unexpected person.

"You'll never be your mother," Leah snarled at her cousin. Courtney raised her eyebrow. She wasn't going to to sink to Leah's level. She didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the cafe- being the Tracker of the two she knew it would be blamed on her when the rules stated that Tracker's weren't allowed to hunt inside any of the city center's inside Growlen, it was a criminal offence.

"I don't want to be my mother," Courtney calmly replied.

"Then why are you making the same mistakes she did?" Leah stalked away, leaving Courtney was a cluttered mind once again. The thought had never occurred to her before; was she really turning into her mother? But she shook her head of the ridiculous thought. Her mother had been a ruthless Tracker, no love or devotion for her own family. Courtney knew that had to be the reason her father had never mentioned her. She had been so set in her ways- Courtney refused to turn into that. She wasn't a cold blooded killer.

As she turned to take a seat in the cafe she found the remainder of her female friends crowded around two round tables, watching her every move. Bridgette calmly tapped her hand on the empty seat beside her. Courtney hesitated at first. These people had once been her friends, but things had changed greatly in the past year of her life.

None the less, Courtney sat down.

"We're you're friends," Bridgette said, taking Courtney's hand in her own. The brunette snatched it away from her ex-best friend. She wasn't falling for it.

"Correction," she replied a little too harshly. "You said you didn't want to be my friends." Courtney thought back to when Taylor and Bridgette had showed up at her house in Scarlatina before she had left for the Academy.

"Fine," the blonde whispered, struggling to stop the ears from dripping down her face. "It looks like we're not friends anymore." Courtney looked at her best friend in shock. She hadn't been expecting Bridgette to be so harsh about her decision, but quickly collected herself.

"If that's the way it has to be." Taylor was't happy with that response.

"No! You're meant to say 'but I still want to be friends' and then we'll say 'then don't go' and then you'll say 'fine, I'll stay'."

"Well, if you don't want to be my friend then don't. I have lots of packing to do." Bridgette left the house without a goodbye.

"We didn't mean it," Taylor practically yelled. It wasn't that she was all that interested in getting Courtney back in her life, if anything she sided with Leah in all of this. But she knew how upset Duncan had been over the past eleven months, and since he 'fessed up about meeting up with Courtney the night before he had been even more down in the dumps than usual. Though details hadn't been shared, something had gone down.

"Its too late now," Courtney got to her feet to leave, but a thought came to her- her friends were never going to give up on this delusional daydream. So she turned back to face them all and raised her voice. "You know what? I have had it up to here," Courtney raised a hand well above her head, "with you lot! I'm not coming back, will all just get it into your heads. I. Cannot. Leave. The. Academy!" She was staring each of them down as she spoke, hoping they would get it into their heads once and for all. "I made a promise to myself that I would never turn any one of you in." Courtney's words were barely above a whisper now. "Please don't make me go back on that promise."

"You know it's the right thing to do," Gwen pipped up as if she hadn't heard a word of it. Courtney turned to glare at her and said the only thing that came to mind, "You know I'm friends with Heather." Gwen and Heather's history was worse than what Courtney's was with the bitchy Asian girl.

"If she was really your friend would she try to kill you?" Gwen didn't bat and eyelash as she referred back to when Heather had once pushed Courtney off a cliff for no reason but to end her life.

The rest of the girls bit their tongues. Not even Leah was going to disrupt this argument.

"Gwen-" Courtney sighed, almost defeated. "Just-Just shut up..." She took a look at all of her supposed friends once again. "Does anyone actually want me back?

"It would kill me if I weren't already dead," Leah admitted, sitting on a chair to the right of Courtney. She really didn't care much for her cousin.

"My point exactly. I'm going before I'm late for class." Courtney left before anyone could cause any more damage.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again ^_^**  
**...See what I did there? hahaha! I'm so funny XD**  
**Anyways, here's to the start of the second Going's On story! I'm totally pumped, what about you? **  
**Okay, okay...CONFESSION TIME! I have not finished writing this one yet :( I was totally planning on having it finished before I started uploadnig it...Buuuuut stupid life got in the way! And my natural laziness...BUT I WILL HAVE IT FINISHED! I only have a chapter and a half left to write, so it's not all bad! Weekly updates as usual XD **  
**I was listening to Guessing by Against The Current while writing the Duncan and Courtney scene and OMSG! It was perfect *_* Go listen to it and tell me otherwise!**  
**Thanks for reading, please review (:**  
**Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	2. A Change of Heart And Decision

**Chapter Two**

**A Change of Heart and Decision**

By sunrise the next day the group had found themselves gathered around their usual spot by the fountain. They were all still in distress after their meeting with Courtney the day before. They had all planned to individually speak with her, but the meeting with Courtney in the coffee shop had not been expected. The girls had informed the boys and now they were all worried for their own safety. Would Courtney really start turning them in? She could easily do it, she could easily turn anyone from Scarlatina in. When joining the Tracker Academy from another town in Growlen you don't have to give anything up about your past, it's one of the rules there. You don't have to speak of it, you don't have to tell anyone anything. You don't have to turn anyone in to prove your worth or any silly thing like that. But you can. You could just as easily turn your back on your old life by turning in everyone you knew.

"It's been a year," Ellie mumbled to herself, not looking directly at anyone in the group. "She could be a completely different person." The Courtney they all knew wouldn't turn anyone in, but then again, the Courtney they all knew wouldn't have become a Tracker.

"Or she could be exactly the same," Geoff argued against his younger sister. While there was a god chance that Courtney was becoming more and more like a Tracker with every passing day, she had also seemed fairly friendly towards her old friends yesterday.

"She _has_ changed." Gwen couldn't stress it enough. "She's halfway to becoming a fully qualified Tracker." It wasn't a lie and everyone knew it. Two years was all it took to get your qualification, and you could apply as soon as you turned sixteen (that was why there weren't four year old Tracker's running around everywhere, they did have an age limit). Courtney would be out in the world hunting down people that were her own kind in no time. She seemed set in her ways.

Trent sighed his words, "She's been talking to us." This earned him a death glare from his girlfriend. Trent glared back for a second. "She wouldn't be talking to us if she was one of them."

"She'll change her mind, just you wait and see," Taylor added as she got to her feet, dusting off her pants. Everyone stared at her. She shrugged it off. No one wanted to say it, but they all knew Taylor was right.

It was only a matter of time before Courtney succumbed to the Tracker life. It always happened eventually. There came a point when everyone who attended the Tracker Academy turned their backs on the rest of Growlen. Those who had been around long enough would always remember what happened to Courtney's mother...and they saw the repeated pattern.

Geoff took a look around his pack. "Regardless of what we want to happen, this is Courtney's choice, not ours."

"Her choice is to become a tracker." Duncan's voice was harsh as he spoke for the first time that day. His mind was racing with the memory of two nights before. No one would ever understand why he held onto it so badly. Except maybe one...but Nigel Black had moved back to Canada some months ago. He rarely returned. Felt no need, even if his oldest friend needed him.

"Bridgette." The group snapped their heads in unison towards the newcomer. They eyed the man from the gate suspiciously. There were very few reasons why he left his post. "You have a visitor." That was one of them. The group turned their attention to the blonde fairy who was staring wide-eyed at the greying man. There was only one person who would come to visit Bridgette and not be allowed into Scarlatina to see her themself.

Taylor and Leah were shaking their heads vigorously at Bridgette. Geoff had wrapped his arm around her shoulder, squeezing her tightly in assurance. The rest of the group stared at her until Duncan got to his feet and disappeared, running back to his house and hiding himself from the rest of the world or another day.

"I'll come with you," Gwen quickly said, but Bridgette shook her head. If she was going to do this she was going to do it alone.

"Anytime today, Bridge." The gate man walked back towards his post, but the group didn't waste any more time on him. They waited and watched as Bridgette slowly rose from her seat and followed behind him. The closer she got to the gate the clearer Courtney became. She was pacing back and fore, muttering something to herself, but stopped once she saw Bridgette. The two girls stared at each other for a moment before Courtney spoke.

"Hey."

Bridgette stared at her ex-best friend as if she had transformed into a giant snake. A simple 'hey' was not going to cut it. Bridgette let out a mental sigh and prepared herself for whatever was going to come next.

"What are you doing here?" The fairy asked. After everything that had gone down over the past few days she had been shocked to realize that Courtney would actually show her face around Scarlatina unless... "If this is some sort of trick I demand you tell me right this minute." Bridgette didn't usually argue, she was too peaceful for that, but she knew how to stand her ground. Courtney looked confusedly at her until she realized what Bridgette was thinking.

"No trick!" She promised, holding up three fingers in a girl scout salute. It was legal for Courtney to capture Bridgette outside the Scarlatina gates, it was why her friends had been so cautious about her going alone. "I just- I want your opinion about something."

"My opinion?" Bridgette repeated, making sure she heard the right thing. Courtney nodded, not smiling, but not quite frowning either. "Why my opinion?"

Courtney took in a deep breath, willing herself to continue on, even though she wanted nothing more than to go back to the Academy. "It's just...I don't _really_ have many friends at the Academy. No one likes me and- don't get me wrong, I don't mind it, but...sometimes I wish I had a best friend again, you know? Someone who's there for me through everything, and someone who's always got the best advice when I need it." Bridgette found herself subconsciously nodding her head along to Courtney's words. She understood what it was like not to have a best friend anymore. "You know," Courtney continued. "You'll always be my best friend, even if I'm not yours. You'll always be that girl who wanted to be my friend even though everyone else thought I was weird. You can't just lose thirteen years of sleepover's and secrets overnight."

Bridgette's eyes were starting to cloud over and Courtney already had a tear rolling down her cheek. Both girls quickly rubbed at their faces before Courtney started talking again, not waiting for Bridgette to respond to her confession. "So, I've been thinking a lot, and- and I don't think I _want_ to be a Tracker anymore. I don't think I _ever _wanted to be a Tracker. It-It's not who I am, it's just something I thought I would try." Bridgette finally understood what Courtney was babbling on about- she wanted to drop out of the Tracker Academy. "What do you think I should do?"

The blonde hesitated at first, not sure if voicing her own opinion was going to get her in trouble or something. But then she realized that this was Courtney- Courtney! Her Courtney, the girl who she had known since the age of four and who had always been there for her through every up and down. "I personally want you to come back." Bridgette answered sheepishly. She felt as if she was admitting to a boy at school that she liked him- it was embarrassing. But Courtney didn't care. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her best friend. At least there was one person on her side. "And you can come stay with me and my parents- if you want, that is. They won't mind, and since Lilly moved out we have the spare room already set up." Lilly was Bridgette's elder sister, but she had moved out a number of years ago and was still living on Earth. Courtney hugged Bridgette tighter. It was the best offer she could have gotten.

A flash of light passed between the two teenagers, making them jump back from each other. Squinting her eyes, Courtney saw the light coming from Bridgette. When the glow had settled Bridgette was standing there in her fairy form. The blond was staring down at her blue dress as one hand stretched out, caressing her silvery-white wings.

"I'm a _fairy_," she gasped.

Courtney chuckled in confusion. "Did the bright light give you amnesia? You've always been a fairy."

"No." Bridgette responded with a dismayed shake of her head. "I mean you _turned_ me into a fairy when we hugged."

"That was me?" Courtney asked eyeing the other girl up and down. She hadn't done anything, just hugged her. Then it hit her. Courtney reached into her pocket and pulled out a marble ball, around the size of a tennis ball that fitted snugly into the palm of her hand and looked as if it was made completely out of some sort of expensive metal.

"I should have known," Bridgette giggled. "Revealer's." The girls shared a private laugh- something they hadn't been able to do in a long time. Courtney motioned for Bridgette to follow her and the two walked away from the gates and towards the river that started at Scarlatina and ended in Nishnaville, just a few miles away. Courtney tossed the ball into the river and listened as it made a satisfied splash. She pulled a fee more out and tossed them in too. "I guess I should really empty my pockets after training."

Bridgette smiled a knowing smile. "Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore." Courtney bit her lip. "What's wrong?" But the brunette shook her head.

"Just tell Lindsay to meet me at my dorm at seven o'clock." Bridgette nodded and pulled Courtney into a quick embrace before they parted ways. Bridgette needed to find Lindsay and Courtney had a lot of explaining to do back at the Academy.

Later that evening Lindsay and Courtney found themselves rushing around the squashed dorm room. Three suitcases were lying open on the bed; two were full and the third was almost there.

"I can't believe you're doing this!" Lindsay squealed, grabbing a pile of clothes from one of the drawers.

"Me either," Courtney told her friend, bursting with excitement. She had changed out of her Tracker uniform earlier that day and she never would have thought how good it felt to wear normal clothes for a change. After her meeting with Bridgette, Courtney had come straight back to the Academy and straight to Mrs. Fields office to fill out the paperwork for leaving the Academy, to which her headmistress hadn't been very surprised of her departure. She then left for town to get her papers checked over and signed by one of the Growlen Center officials. Courtney knew the price she was going to pay for this from the other students, but she was willing to deal with anything they threw her way.

Heather had been out for a walk with one of the boys from her class. Late night strolls was the only way students could get around the no dating rule at the school. The girls had found this to the perfect time to make the escape, but they hadn't counted on Heather coming back early. The raven haired antagonist walked into her dorm room already grouchy from her lousy 'date', but what she found when she entered the room put her anger into overdrive.

"What are you doing?" Heather asked, watching the two girls pack. They hadn't let Heather's presence alter their plan.

"Leaving," Courtney replied calmly as she folded more of her t-shirts.

"WHAT?!" Heather yelled before realizing the door was still open and the other students would be able to hear their argument. "Why are you leaving?"

"I don't want to be a Tracker anymore," Courtney answered. Lindsay placed the last of the contents into the last suitcase and began zipping up the other two. Courtney closed the last one while Heather tried to come to terms with what she had just been told. Her face was contorting into the snarl Courtney was used to seeing on her roommates face.

"You can't just get up and leave me for those pathetic losers you call friends," Heather told Courtney sternly. "You're halfway through training!" Courtney stopped what she was doing and finally looked at Heather.

"Being a tracker isn't who I am." The brunette grabbed one of the suitcases and started walking towards the door. "I'm going back to my old life." She pushed her way past Heather and into the corridor outside their dorm room.

"You can't do this!" Heather whined.

"Watch me." Courtney walked off, Lindsay hot on her trail carrying the other two bags.

"Find someone else to torture, Hannah," the blonde sneered over her shoulder as the two girls walked down the hallway. Heather was dumbstruck, she had just been left. No one ever left her.

"You wait, Courtney Black," Heather yelled after her. "This is not the last you will here from me." Courtney ignored her.

The two girls took the bus to Scarlatina. Courtney couldn't stop shaking from her adrenaline rush. She'd left the Academy and told Heather where to stick it in the process. This was the most fun she had had in eleven months, if not her whole life!

When they approached the Scarlatinan gates, the old man looked up at Courtney with a faint smile on his lips. He held out his hand and Courtney handed over her paperwork with a wide grin on her face. He started scanning the papers and Courtney remembered a time one whole year ago when she had been stood in the exact same spot with her father. Back then she had been in awe of Scarlatina. The wonder hadn't worn off.

"This is so exciting!" Lindsay jumped up and down on the spot. Courtney was about to reply with the same sentence when the tic-tac colored girl appeared next to her.

"Izzy!" Courtney gasped, clutching at her heart. "You almost killed me."

"Almost?" The redhaired girl pondered. "As in I scared you half to death? But-I-scared-you-half-to-death-before." Izzy was talking too fast for Courtney to understand a word of it. "OH MY GOD! I KILLED YOU! DON'T TELL THE COPS!" And with that, Izzy dashed away in an overly dramatic run, leaving Lindsay and Courtney more baffled than before.

"All you're paperwork looks in order," the old man said having missed the whole Izzy ordeal. He waved his hand and Courtney's luggage disappeared. He then handed half the papers back to Courtney and stored the other half in the top drawer of his desk. Courtney wondered how he kept so many different kinds of paperwork in such a tiny desk, but she didn't ask. Instead she let the man press the button that swung the gates to her hometown open. As soon as they were wide enough to enter Lindsay skipped through.

"Are you coming?" She asked, turning back to Courtney who was glued to the spot she was standing in. She stared at the town for a little while longer before a smile broke out on her face once again.

"Yeah." She was home.

As she walked through the gates she could have sworn she heard the old man mutter the words, "Just like her mother." But when she turned around her was asleep with his feet proper up on the desk, as usual.

Courtney sighed and turned back to the town. Bridgette came racing forward, engulfing her best friend in a hug once again. It had only been a few hours since they saw each other, but it was still a lifetime since they had been able to be themselves around each other.

"You made it!" Bridgette yelled happily. Courtney smiled, raising one hand to the ear Bridgette was screaming in.

"Yeah, I made it," Courtney laughed, her voice muffled in Bridgette's hair.

"What did Heather say?" Bridgette asked, breaking away from her new old best friend.

"She said she's gonna get revenge and stuff like that." Courtney passed it off as nothing. She knew Heather was going to try and get back at her sooner or later, but she wasn't scared of her anymore.

"Just remember, when she does, I'll always be here to help."

* * *

A/N: Aww!

Gotta love some Courtney/Bridgette friendship.

Which is a change for me since I'm writing a Gwen/Courtney friendship for NaNo...OH YEAH! I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year! Isn't it exciting? I'm writing a Courtney/Gwen friendship/romance post-apocalyptic/zombie fic! /participants/chloerhiannonx/novels/novel-444041

Thank you to AHRedDeath and Sadie Loves DxC for the awesome reviews!

Thanks for reading, please review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


	3. Forgiveness

**Chapter Three**

**Forgiveness**

Courtney stepped out from one of the four fitting rooms with an unsure look on her face. Her eyes met her best friends. "How do I look?" The brunette asked, her hands nervously running down her black pants.

"Less like a Tracker," Bridgette replied with a wide grin.

"More like a sorcerer," Lindsay agreed from the jewellery stand beside Courtney.

After Courtney unpacked at Bridgette's house she found that a lot of her clothes consisted of her Tracker uniform. Naturally, her and Bridgette had burnt the uniform in a bonfire last night and Lindsay had dragged them both to the Growlen mall. The two blondes had thrusted many items into her hands and sent her off to try them on, but nothing looked quite as perfect on her as this did.

Courtney let a smile of relief pass her face as she ran into back into the fitting room to change back into her old t-shirt and jeans. She was hoping she wouldn't be recognized as a Tracker around Growlen, but there were so many people around who would know her. At least the mall wasn't as busy now that the street market had moved on.

The trio exited the shopping area and headed towards the café on the corner.

"Have you talked to the guys?" Courtney asked. Bridgette was about to answer when Lindsay squealed and ran off after a crowd of cute boys. The two laughed at her and Bridgette took it as her opportunity to change the subject.

"So me and my parents were talking about school and-"

"You haven't told them...have you?" Courtney stopped walking and Bridgette wouldn't look at her. She scrunched up her face and sighed.

"No..." She replied, waiting for her best friend to punch her. She didn't. When Bridgette finally turned to look at Courtney she found her to be a in starnge trance with an expression that Taylor usually had during her visions.

Courtney swallowed hard, a million thoughts racing through her mind, all including the reactions her friends were going to have. "I. Am. So. Dead," Courtney said, sounding as if she was struggling for breath. There was no way her friends were going to take her back as easily as Bridgette did. Bridgette was kind and forgiving, the rest were cold and ruthless- well, at least the majority were.

"No you're not," Bridgette comforted, but she wasn't entirely sure about it herself. She knew not all of her friends were going to be as accepting of this big change.

* * *

The café was bustling with mostly teenagers. The usual group had ventured out to the Growln Center mall at Bridgette's request. She had somehow convinced everyone to a day out, said something about 'having too much of sitting around a fountain'. The group were spread out against one of the sofa's and a near-by table. They were making plans for summer when Bridgette turned to Duncan.

"Duncan," Bridgette started, her voice light and airy. "Do you see that girl reading the newspaper over there?" The punk looked over to where Bridgette had pointed. Sitting by herself was girl, her face hidden by a copy of Growlen Daily.

"I see her," Duncan replied with a sigh. He knew where this was going.

"She really likes you," the blonde smiled.

"How do you know?"

"I can just tell," she lied. "Now go talk to her." Duncan rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Bridgette, I told you, I'm not interested in seeing anyone." He was putting up more of a fight than Bridgette had wanted. She had wanted him to go running to the girl with an open mind and open arms.

"And I told you that I was going to find you someone." She lifted her arms and waved them at Duncan, shooing him in the direction on the girl. He hesitated for a moment before slowly walking over to the girls table. Duncan took an empty seat next to the her, though she didn't seem to acknowledge his presence.

"Hey there, hot stuff," Duncan greeted. It had been a long time since he had dated anyone- almost thirty years! "My friend wanted me to come talk to you."

Courtney placed the paper down on the table and smiled at Duncan, "That's nice of her," she said. Duncan jumped back from his seat and onto his feet, staring down at his ex-girlfriend in shock and confusion.

"W-What are you doing here?" He asked. It took everything he had not to start yelling.

"Reading the newspaper, Einstein."

"Courtney..." He warned. She gave him a small smile. Duncan didn't smile back. "Why aren't you in your uniform?"

Courtney shrugged. "I dropped out of school." The rest of the group was already watching and listening, Courtney thought it was the perfect time to explain herself. "You guys were right- I'm not supposed to be a Tracker, it's just not me. So...I dropped out yesterday." Courtney shrugged. "I'm staying with Bridgette until I can get myself sorted and...I don't know. I'm just not a Tracker anymore, I guess."

"Duncan collapsed back into the chair, mumbling something along the lines of, "Too much to handle." Courtney gave his arm a quick squeeze but she shuddered away from her touch. She hadn't been expecting things to be the same in that regard.

The rest of the group were all eyes on Courtney, while Courtney couldn't keep her eyes off Duncan. There was silence for a long while, but a certain vampire couldn't hold her tongue anymore.

"Why have you moved back?" Taylor asked, narrowing her eyes as she spoke. Courtney shrugged. There was no real answer, or at least there wasn't an answer that would please Taylor. Taylor and Courtney would never see eye-to-eye the way everyone else did, there was no point in trying.

"You're not welcome here," Leah snapped. She always had to get her word in.

"Yes you are," Geoff contradicted with a pointed look at the redhead. If there was one person always on her side, it was Geoff. He knew from the start that Courtney would never have succumbed completely to Tracker life.

"Its not like some of us haven't done stupid things," Trent added in Courtney's defence, sending Leah a second pointed look. Courtney felt a smile creeping across her jaw; something's never changed.

Geoff turned to face Courtney, a gleam of hope in his eye. He was waiting for her to ask. Everyone was waiting for her to ask.

And then she asked: "Does that mean I'm still part of the pack?"

Geoff took his time responding, wanting to make more tension for the group. But then a wide grin broke out on his face.

"We'd never let you out." Courtney dashed over to Geoff and engulfed him in a tight hug. She would never be able to thank him enough for letting her back in.

* * *

The water's edge hadn't changed one bit since Courtney had left, it was still the exact way she remembered. The water still glistened under the Scarlatina sun and the area itself was still hidden by the surrounding tree's so much so that very few people only ventured far enough to see it. Courtney still remembered all the times she and Duncan had sat here during her month in Scarlatina, how romantic had all seemed back then. Now, as she watched her ex-boyfriend, she couldn't help but travel back to a him when things had been better, not just for her, but for both of them.

Duncan, however, was feeling stuck to his stomach. This was the first time he'd been able to face the lake since his now ex-girlfriend's departure almost a year ago. But today he wanted to sit there, he felt the need to watch the still waters. It always calmed him down. Some part of him wished he'd never brought Courtney to the lake, but the rational side of his brain was calling that part stupid.

The delinquent was happy sitting alone, thinking about what he was going to do about Courtney. Ever since she had come back two days ago he had made sure not to get too close to her. It was mainly Bridgette and Geoff who talked to her since she was staying at Bridgette's house. Duncan didn't know where he fitted in anymore, he didn't think they could just go back to being friends or anything more than that. He had already been to the Palace to see about his job. Kaly had called Nigel, too. Nothing more had been said on the subject.

"You know you wanna take her back, Dunky baby," Izzy told him, swinging down from one of the tree branches above his head. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Duncan, being used to crazy girl, just answered her without any concern about why she had been in the tree in the first place.

"Izzy, you're not helping," Duncan sighed. "I don't think I love her anymore." He really wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore.

"Yes you do." Izzy nudged his shoulder with her own. "You just don't know it yet."

"No. I don't love her. She told me it wasn't going to work out, so I've moved on." Duncan was cautious as to not say anything about his job; he knew Courtney was listening.

"HELLO!" Izzy screamed at Duncan, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "She said that to protect you, you untasty fishstick!"

"Well, it's too late now." Izzy rolled her eyes and got to her feet. She was done trying to convince him of anything else. She took off into a run that quickly turned into her climbing a tree. She passed Courtney on the way and gave her a wink, though Courtney didn't know what for. There was no telling what anything was for when it came to Izzy.

Courtney hesitated at first. She didn't want to confront Duncan, she wanted things to work out on their own, but she knew that was never going to work in her favor. So she sucked up a deep breath and took a seat on the grass beside him.

She smiled to herself, now able to fully bask in the glow of the shallow lake. "I'd forgotten how nice it is by here," she admitted. All Duncan did was grunt in response. They both knew they had to talk to each other at some point, "Do you want to go first?" Courtney asked, knowing what the answer was going to be anyway. The vampire didn't reply at all, he just kept staring out to the water. "Okay, I'll go first." The brunette took in a deep breath before starting her well prepared speech. "I love you Duncan. I have since the first day we met. Even though I've broken up with you countless times you've always managed to convince me otherwise. Now it's my turn convince you." Duncan turned to look at his former flame, noting the way the water reflected in her eyes made it seem as if she was close to tears. It almost made Duncan changed his mind- almost!

"This was the last time, Courtney," he replied. "I don't- I don't love you anymore," he calmly stated. Before he knew it Courtney was on his lap, her lips pressed firmly against his in the most passionate one-sided kiss she could give. When they broke away for air, Courtney was panting, rubbing her nose against Duncan's. His breathing was shallow, his eyes shut.

"Is there anything I can do to convince you?" Courtney asked, seductively. She shifted her hips slightly, but Duncan tossed her aside.

"No." Duncan swallowed hard, wanting the conversation to be over. But Courtney didn't give up that easily. She pulled her love in for another heated kiss, this one shorter than the first, but more desperate and frantic, her nails digging into the front of his shirt as she grabbed him. When they broke apart Courtney simply said, "Please just think about it." Duncan didn't respond, he just let Courtney walk away.

Bridgette was waiting on the outskirts of the forest for her best friend. As soon as she potted Courtney she knew something was up. The brunette just shook her head and Bridgette scowled- something Courtney had only seen her do a handful of times.

"NOTHING!" Bridgette screamed. "That boy is so stupid." She stopped pacing back and fore and head butted the nearest tree. She had been mad at Duncan ever since he had rejected Courtney. He hadn't straight up said he didn't love her anymore, but he also didn't get down on one knee and profess his love for her either.

"No he's not,"Coutney told her best friend with a sigh. "He just doesn't know what to believe anymore. I've messed him around too many times, I guess." Bridgette sighed too, walking over to Courtney with a sympathetic look towards her friend. She was right, of course- Duncan was done being messed around by Courtney. "He just doesn't love me anymore..."

**A/N: Well, that fucking hurts, don't it?**

**Don't worry, I have a plan ;)**

**NaNoWriMo is going sooo well for me! I really hope to start posting my story here on December 1st, once I'm finished with it, of course :D I can't wait for all of you to ready it!**

**Thank you to AHRedDeath and Guest for being totally awesome reviewers! I'm glad everyone is enjoying it so far!**

**I wanna try and write something for Missing Scenes before chapter four comes out next week, so keep an eye out for that ;)**

**Thanks for reading, please review (:**

**Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	4. High School

**Chapter Four**

**High School**

The half of the gang were sitting outside the school gates, though only one of them was going to be going into school today. The others hadn't wanted to show up for Courtney's big day, they were mostly still mad at her.

Courtney was nervous. Bridgette kept a tight arm around her shoulder while they waited for the bell to ring.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The blonde asked. Bridgette's parents had offered to home school Courtney like they did with their own daughter. Courtney had refused. She had come back to Scarlatina to face her fears and her biggest fear was High school.

"She'll be fine," Trent told Bridgette. He was sitting on the wall opposite the two girls with Geoff at his side.

The Pack leader spoke up, "You remember how to use the Beeper?" Courtney nodded. Geoff had given her his old Beeper that had everyone's number already programmed into it. They didn't use Beeper's at the Academy and she had never had a chance to ask her father for one before she left. "And you won't be totally alone," Geoff continued.

"I-I won't?"

Geoff raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend who gave a shrug. "I forgot to tell her."

"Tell me what?" Courtney looked between the two fo them.

"Leah's your age, so she'll be one or two of your classes," Geoff explained. Courtney groaned. Trent laughed. "And Ellie takes some classes here-"

"I thought she was like, almost thirty?"

"She is, but don't tell her that," the blonde boy chuckled. "But she dropped out of school when she sixteen and she's been taking classes part-time this last year."

"And..." Trent encouraged with a knowing smile on his face. Courtney looked curiously at her Pack leader who wore an embarrassed expression. Geoff wasn't offering the information up freely, so Trent did. "And Geoff here, is a teacher."

Courtney's eyes widened in surprise. She raised her hands to her mouth. Bridgette and Trent were holding back laughter while Geoff nodded his head along with their joke.

"You're a teacher?" Courtney asked, trying not to join in on the contagious laughter between her friends. "But I thought you were a doctor."

"I am," Geoff replied keeping his eyes trained on Courtney. "But there's two other doctors in Scarlatina and not as many injuries as you'd think. So we all work part-time at the office and I work part-time at the school teaching gym, and I'm also studying to become a full-time doctor at St. Maria's hospital down in the Center."

Courtney wanted to say something, but a loud ringing came from inside the building. Bridgette squeezed Courtney tighter than before and it took Trent to pry her away. Geoff had volunteered to show her around the school on her first day-and now Courtney knew why he had-so the two took off towards the doors. As they walked Courtney noticed that no one was really looking at her and that she didn't actually recognise half the teenagers around her.

"Although it's called Scarlatina High School, it's actually shared with Nishnaville and some parts of Indicenta." Courtney nodded. She knew where those places were and they were fairly close by. At the Academy they were made to study maps of Growlen. "What class do you have first?"

Courtney pulled her schedule out from her pocket and studied it. "Magic. Great." It had been so long since Courtney had used her powers, she wasn't even sure she could still use her powers.

Geoff and Courtney walked down a lot of corridors. Courtney realized her biggest concern should be remembering her way. It had taken her three months to find her way around the whole Tracker Academy, though the high school was about half the size of the castle. Courtney noticed it wasn't that different from her old school on Earth. Same graffitied lockers, same shouting from teacher's, same gross smell coming from the cafeteria. suddenly Courtney found herself feeling more confident and comfortable than she ever thought she would be.

"This is it, your first class," Geoff told her as he stopped outside one of the many classrooms in the hallway. The door was open and the students were already seated. Courtney could feel the nerves-and bile-rising in her stomach. Geoff turned to her with a dopey smile. "You'll be fine, I'll meet you back here in one hour, and if you need anything you have everyone's number's in the Beeper, so just send us a message if you need anything. Though, as your teacher, I advise you not to use your Beeper in class." That made Courtney smile just a little. She nodded her head at Geoff and he knocked on the door as the two of them stood in the doorway. The young female teacher looked up at the door and smiled at Geoff who gave his friend a gentle push in the right direction.

"You must be Courtney," she said. Courtney nodded. "Thanks, Geoff." Geoff tipped his cowboy hat and left them to it. They both turned to face the class that was strangely quiet. The classroom looked like any other classroom with desks all lined in rows, a white board at the front with writing scribbled across and all of the students were staring at the new girl. "Class, this is Courtney Black." As soon as the teacher announced that the class burst into a sea of whispers. "QUIET! Go take a seat, Courtney." Courtney made her way to the back of the room to where the only empty seat was. As she passed each desk, the owner would stare up at her. Cold eyes inflicted only more depression on her. Maybe this was a bad idea.

One hour later Courtney found herself outside the classroom with Geoff again. He was high-fiving most of the students as they exited and Courtney assumed he was one of the more popular teachers at the school.

"How was it?" The Pack leader asked giving Courtney a wide grin. He was a very smiley person today.

The brunette shrugged. "If you excuse the whispers, cold stares and the fact that any chance I had of getting a good reputation went down the drain, it went fabulously." She added an eye roll for effect. Geoff chuckled.

"Just think, three weeks until summer vacation."

"Did I have to start school this year?" Courtney moaned as they started walking to her second class of a day.

"Think of the next three weeks as your settling in time," Geoff explained. "And then you have your senior year next year to just relax, have fun, meet some new people, get a new boyfriend." Courtney raised an eyebrow at him. "Not that it's any of my business...But Bridge says you're in need of a guy. A decent guy."

"This is so not the conversation I want to have with you!" Courtney groaned, walking a little faster down the hall, even if she had no idea where she was going.

* * *

Courtney took another twirl in front of the mirror while Bridgette smiled softly from the bed behind her. The new dress that her best friend had picked out certainly flattered every aspect of Courtney's body. Lindsay had been round to do her make-up and hair, but she never stayed in Scarlatina for very long. The rest of the girls hadn't been very interested in Courtney's plans for the evening, and one in particular-Leah-had gone as far as telling Courtney how stupid she thought her plan was. Duncan was never going to fall for her charms, in Leah's opinion. Gwen had told her where to stick it, but that was all she had had to say on the matter.

"Duncan's going to fall for you all over again," Bridgette announced proudly. She had been trying her best ever since Courtney had left the Academy a week ago to get Duncan to see some sense and get back with his girlfriend, but to no avail.

The group hadn't really been the same since Courtney had come back. They had all separated off into smaller groups and pairs, with very few of them speaking to each other on civil terms anymore. Bridgette couldn't hide the fact from Courtney that it was her fault, all she could do was reassure her friend that things would work themselves out for everyone. The feuds within the group never lasted long. Then again, they had never had a feud over something this serious before.

Courtney was used to people ignoring her by now. Very few people in town were kind to her and even fewer actually spoke words to her. There was a smile here and there in passing, but most people would stalk off with their noses in the air. Bridgette had told her not to mind those kinds of people, they were the more snobbish of Scarlatina and had high beliefs of a pure system- one that did not include Tracker's and the like. Bridgette laughed at the notion, explaining to Courtney that even the Royal family had Tracker blood and that she should ask Duncan about it. Geoff glared at his girlfriend as if she had just killed the Queen. Courtney assumed talking about the Tracker side of the Royal family was some sort of sin, so she kept her mouth shut and nodded her head.

"I'm so scared," Courtney whispered. "What if he turns me down again? I don't know if I can take one more rejection from him."

"Don't worry." Bridgette jumped to her feet, giving Courtney a quick hug from behind. "Duncan will at least hear you out...before rejecting you..." Courtney groaned, moving away from Bridgette and throwing herself down onto the bed. "HEY!" The blonde cried. "Don't ruin the make-up, hair or the dress. We all worked hard on that. Now snap out of this silliness and go get your guy!"

Courtney hated herself for it, but she laughed. She laughed at her best friends attempt. Bridgette wasn't quite used to having to motivate Courtney, Courtney was mostly self-motivated. But she had never been in so much of a crisis with Duncan before. She felt as if this was her last chance to do something right and if it didn't go well then it was all down the drain. This was her last shot at a relationship with Duncan again.

With that in mind, twenty minutes later she found herself standing outside the Hudson family home. She tentatively knocked on the door, already wondering if she had enough time to flee back to the Dayford's house. Just as she was starting to think maybe she could, the door swung open and standing there was Duncan's older sister, Rebecca. She wasn't smiling like she had been the last time Courtney had seen her, but she looked just as beautiful.

"You."

"Me." Courtney gave a sheepish smile. There was a tense silence between them.

"I suppose you're here to see Duncan."

"Is he here?"

"He just got in from work." Rebecca motioned behind her to the staircase. "You can go up." The older teenager walked away from the doorway and into the kitchen that was beyond the staircase. Courtney was left staring into the house. Her nerves were bubbling up again and just as she thought about turning away, Duncan's voice carried down from upstairs.

"Are you coming up here or what?"

Courtney swallowed hard, trying to summon as much bravery as possible because she knew she would need it all to go through with this. Shutting the front door behind her, Courtney followed the staircase up where she was met with six doors. Five closed. One open. She had no doubt that the darkness held Duncan's bedroom. She hadn't be in there before. The one time she had been to Duncan's house had been spent downstairs.

'_How does he see in here,_' Courtney wondered to herself, squinting her eyes. They weren't adjusting to the dark room that grew even darker as she shut the door behind her.

"Vampire vision." _Facepalm. _A simple fact like that had easily slipped her mind. And the fact that Duncan could read her mind at any given moment, so she had to be careful to keep her thoughts in check.

Courtney couldn't spot Duncan in the room, but she felt his eyes on her. She made her way to the window, pushing back the curtain and letting a silver light flood the room. Duncan was sat on the edge of his rather large bed right in front of her. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, the sleek black tie wound round his knuckles, the collar of his white shirt was propped open and Courtney couldn't help but stare.

'_Don't you scrub up well,_' she said with an eyebrow arched.

Duncan gave her a smirk at the comment. "I just got home from work."

"Bodyguard, right?" Duncan nodded. "Hard night guarding the spoilt brat?" He smirked again. "How long have you been doing your job for?"

"Twenty-seven years," he replied without skipping a beat. Courtney nodded, stepping away from the window, letting the curtain fall back into place, casting them both into darkness once again. "Why are you here?" Courtney shrugged. "Courtney, I haven't-"

"Changed your mind? I know. I doubted you had. But I wanted to change your mind. I was thinking we could go out on a date." Courtney sat down beside him, taking his hands in hers. Duncan's face was stone. "Please. I'm just asking for one more chance, Duncan. You mean the world to me and I...I can't let you go like this." His face remained impassive. Courtney chewed the inside of her cheek. "I wish I could read your mind as easily as you can read mine." She leaned forward, her eyes closing, resting her forehead against his.

"Courtney..." Duncan breathed out slowly.

"I know," she sighed. "I was stupid to think you'd take me back." Courtney pushed herself away from him, getting to her feet and heading towards the door. She knew she should have turned and ran when she could have. But just as her hand clasped the door handle, Duncan's covered it with his own. He pressed his front to Courtney's back, his breath tingling at her ear.

"Don't go," he said. "We can...we can go on a date."

"R-Really?"

"Really." He pulled his hand away for a split second only to use it to turn Courtney around to face him. "You mean as much to me, you know that? I could...I never want to let you go. No matter how many stupid things you do." Courtney could the tears welling up in her eyes, but she urged them back for the sake of her make-up. "And it's a good thing I'm psychic because I have our date all planned out."

* * *

A/N: Aww, yay!

DxCness XD

Sorry that this is a little late...I've had a bad week to say the least...

My NaNo story is coming along great! And I am starting a two weeks training course for a job in customer services this week so wish me luck!

Thank you to AHRedDeath for the review!

Thanks for reading, please review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


	5. The Letter

**Chapter Five**

**The Letter**

It was a few days later when Courtney, Bridgette and Mrs. Dayford were sat around the breakfast table on a Sunday morning. Geoff and Duncan were both at work, leaving the two teenage girls with a free morning.

The brunette swallowed down the last bit of her pancakes, licking her lips with a content sigh. "Thank you again for letting me stay here," she smiled at the family. There was no one else in town who would have let her in, and Courtney didn't have the money to stay at the B&B in town.

"Stop saying that!" Bridgette told her, collecting the empty plates and depositing them in the sink.

"But I _am_ grateful. If there's anything I can do just say the word."

"Go get the mail," Mrs. Dayford said, not even glancing up from the newspaper, her coffee mug pressed tightly to her lips.

"Sure thing, Michelle," Courtney replied in her cheery tone. Courtney had known the Dayford's for most of her life. Having known Bridgette since Kindergarten, she knew the family pretty well. They had always offered her a place to stay when her father went away on business, which was a welcomed change from the old lady next door that had usually watched over her.

Michelle looked like an older version of Bridgette. The only thing that Bridgette had inherited from her father was her bright blonde hair as Michelle's was a light brown.

"Anything for me?" Bridgette called down the hallway.

"Who would write to you?" Her father replied as he entered the room from the garden, taking a cold piece of toast from the plate before his daughter threw it away.

"Hey!" Bridgette pouted, "I have friends."

"Who live down the road," Mack replied through a mouthful of toast. Bridgette stuck her tongue out at her father and he playfully nudged her away. This was usually the sort of scene that made Courtney's heart collapse in on itself as she missed her own father and the moments they'd shared together, but her thoughts were too preoccupied with the letter in her hand.

The young girl walked in a trance into the kitchen, dropping the rest of the letters on the table.

"Are you okay, Courtney?" Mack asked, instantly noticing the young girls hesitance to open the letter addressed to her. The only people who knew where she was staying had no reason to write her a letter, but it wasn't that that was scaring her.

Bridgette moved quickly, snatching the envelope from her best friends hands. "Don't open it!" Courtney quickly snapped.

"Why not?" Bridgette innocently asked, turning the white paper over in her hands.

"Because...it's from Heather."

"How do you know that?"

Courtney took the envelope back in her own hands, running her finger over the cursive writing of her name. "I'd recognize this handwriting anywhere."

* * *

Ellie was the last to join the group, running over in wolf form and taking a space between Leah and Taylor, not bothering to turn back into human form. Taylor scratched the cubs head lightly, but Leah wasn't very impressed. She had been dragged away from her shopping day for this and was now filing at her nails as if they were more important than the matter at hand.

"What's with the emergency meeting?" Gwen asked, finally looking up from her hushed conversation with Trent.

"I know," Leah added, flicking her long red hair over one shoulder. "I had things planned."

"Yeah, and getting dragged away from work isn't really helping my case against Kaly." Though taking one look at Duncan in his baggy jeans and red chucks, you would never have guessed that he had been dragged away from such a professional job.

Everyone burst out talking at once, all trying to tell their leader that they had better things to do. Geoff let them all talk for a few moments before let out a high pitched whistle to get their attention back on him. "Courtney has something to read us," the pack leader explained.

"Read?" Trent inquired.

"That's what he said," Gwen mumbled in reply.

Courtney stood in front of her friends, the letter in her shaky hands, nervously reading out the words that Heather had written.

"Dear Courtney Black, aka that skank that left me for her freak loser friends. I have been told to inform you that the whole Academy is in training. Not the kind of training that you were doing. This training is for war. You heard me; Trackers and freaks are going to war so that we can end this feud once and for all. I told you, Courtney Black, you have not heard the last of me. And now, I will be the one to finish you off. You can tell your loser friends to start packing because they should know the Trackers will win the battle and put the freaks back into their rightful place; THE GRAVEYARD! Your powers are no match for ours. Yours sincerely, Heather George. P.S The real Courtney Black is not proud of you."

Scoffs and gasps of horror filled the group who had been completely silent as their friend read to them. Courtney sank back into her seat on the fountain beside Duncan, letting her boyfriend wrap a loving arm around her; she needed all the comfort she could get. Heather's words were stinging at her heart, knowing that everything she had said was true- well, almost everything.

"What does she mean 'the real Courtney Black'?" Trent asked.

"She means my mom," Courtney replied emotionlessly.

"You know that's not true." Duncan pulled her tighter to his body.

"Court, your mom is proud of you no matter what." Bridgette placed a friendly hand on her best friends arm.

Courtney shrugged. "She's dead. I've never met her. I don't really care if she's proud of me or not." She wasn't going to let Heather's meaningless words get to her.

"That's all fine and dandy, but can we get back to the fact that the Academy is waging WAR ON US?" Gwen screamed. This wasn't the first time that Tracker's had waged war on the people of Growlen, but this was the first time a specific Tracker had waged war on a specific group of people. Things were getting out of hand.

* * *

Behind the Scarlatinan Palace was a part of town Courtney had never ventured to before. In fact, she had never even seen the Palace up close before. It had never been something that bothered her, but as they walked past she couldn't help but gawk at how huge the place was. It was obvious the place was once a castle and that it had had no updates to the exterior design for the last four hundred years.

The group emerged outside Geoff's house, where the young man was waiting for them with his sister. Ellie was vibrating on the spot- from fear or excitement, Courtney couldn't tell. The now larger group headed down an old alley at the end of Geoff's street and continued zig-zagging through the rest of the town before they came across a field of bright green grass. It had recently been cut, Courtney noted, that made it easier to use as a training ground.

Ten minutes later, Courtney found herself paired with Izzy. The redheaded girl had set up some obscure targets at various distances away.

"Okay, Courtney, all you have to do is shoot the targets." Izzy pointed to the floating objects behind her.

"With what?" The brunette asked, unsure of how she was supposed to hit the targets when she had nothing in her hands. While she had been at the Academy, a bow and arrow would have probably been at hand, but Izzy had given her nothing.

"YOUR POWERS!" Izzy yelled back as if it was obvious, which it was, but Courtney had never used her powers during a training session before, only weapons.

"What powers?" Courtney whined. The sorcerer didn't know her true potential when it came to her powers. Every time she tried to do something it usually ended in disaster.

"You're a sorcerer, you have AMAZING POWERS!"

"But I don't know how to use them," Courtney confessed in turn.

"You'll find a way." Izzy smirked at Courtney before taking a seat on the floor with Trent, who had given up on running the track that had been outlined with white paint on the ground. It was fair to say that training wasn't the easiest thing for this particular group of people, many of them had no idea what they were doing, unlike the Tracker's who were mostly trained assassins.

"Let's see what you can do," Courtney said to her upturned hands. She brought her palms up to face the targets and spun them around in a circle. Nothing happened. Izzy started laughing.

"You have to really concentrate," Trent encouraged.

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY THIS!" Courtney snapped. She wasn't mad at him, but the frustration that her powers brought meant she'd take it out on anyone.

Izzy started wiping the tears from her eyes. "Just picture what you want to happen," the nymph explained to Courtney. Courtney turned back to the targets and focused her mind on it.

"Does that really work?" Trent whispered to Izzy.

"Nope, but I wanna see how she's gonna screw this up."

Courtney placed her palms in the air, facing the target she wanted to shoot down, and concentrated purely on what she wanted to happen. The next thing she knew water was shooting out of her hands and at the targets.

Duncan had been watching from across the field. Him and Gwen had been fighting against each other for practice. Gwen had won. Duncan was too busy watching his girlfriend attempt to attract a few floating targets. In the end he had given up with Gwen and raced over to his girlfriend.

"BOO!" He screamed in her ear. Courtney jumped off her feet and spun round to face Duncan. Still had running water coming from her hands, ending up completely soaking Duncan.

"Oh, that's it," He told her before tackling her to the ground. The started wrestling for dominance, both trying to pin the other for a solid ten minutes before Courtney's enthusiasm drained.

"Get off me!" She tried to yell, but she was laughing too much. Duncan, laughing himself, got up off the floor and held a hand out to his girlfriend.

"Why'd you soak me?" He asked. She grabbed his hand with a friendly smile, but it soon turned vicious as she caught him off guard, pulling him back down to the floor.

"I'm practicing," she told him, but Duncan was too concerned about the fact he was back on the floor. He turned to Courtney with playfulness in his eyes.

"So, it's gonna be like that, is it?" He asked teasingly. Before they knew it, they were wrestling again, being watched from the sidelines by Trent and Izzy, who had somehow gotten her hands on popcorn for the show.

**A/N: Things are getting good...**

**I love Izzy so much!**

**Late again =/**

**I could use the excuse of a highly stressful week...but I won't. I simply forgot. My bad.**

**Thank you to AHRedDeath and zebraprintlover101 for the wonderful reviews!**

**Thanks for reading, please review (:**

**Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	6. The Final Vision

**Chapter Six**

**The Final Vision**

Duncan was sitting in his house with his older brother and sister. He had explained to them the situation they were in and asked if they could help out. The group hadn't wanted to involve the whole of Scarlatina, there was only so many of them the Tracker's were targeting. However, they still needed more people willing to fight.

"So, can we count on you, Becky?" Duncan asked, hoping they would both agree to help out.

"Sure, why not?" His sister answered, smiling at her two younger brothers.

"Derick?" Duncan asked timidly. Derick was sort of reclining back in his chair, trying to look cool and mostly failing. His siblings never thought he looked cool.

The older teenager shrugged, not really caring too much about the war. Sure, he didn't want his younger brother or his friends to die, but he didn't want much to do with it. He found it to look more like a child's petty squabble. "You can call me when things go wrong."

"I'll take that as a yes." Duncan smiled at his brother and sister before rushing from the house to meet the rest of the group. They were milling around the fountain, as usual, all discussing who they could count on for war.

"My parents said they were in," Bridgette announced, flying over and taking a seat beside Geoff. "But my sister refuses to come back to Scarlatina."

"My older sister said yes, but my mom said no because she has to take care of the little one," Taylor said.

Lindsay had been sitting in uncomfortable silence since she had arrived. When she raised her hand to get everyone's attention, they listened. "I'm sorry, guys. But me and the other mermaids are outs] We're peaceful people and we have a truce with the Tracker's."

That's okay, Lindsay," Geoff told her with a sad smile. "We understand." He turned his attention back to the sheet of paper laying in his lap, scribbling lines through more names. At this rate, he found himself thinking he'd have more scribbles than actual people.

"Duncan said he'd call my dad," Courtney whispered, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. "But I doubt he has." Courtney was worried about what would happen if her father showed up. She found it unlikely that he would accept her back as his daughter, they hadn't parted on the best terms.

"You have too much doubt," Duncan told his girlfriend as he appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"So you called him?" She asked, turning to face Duncan, but making sure his arms didn't leave her.

"No," Duncan replied bluntly. "But only because I still think you should call him."

"No time like the present!" Taylor yelled over the noise of everyone's chatter. Courtney rolled her eyes at her cousin-in-law.

"I told you I can't," Courtney told Duncan for the umpteenth time. Se sat down on the edge of the fountain and wrapped her arms around Duncan's torso, burying her face his stomach. He removed her hands and sat down next to her, wrapping one of his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. Duncan could see how nervous she was about her father coming home to find her here, but he knew better. He knew that Nigel would welcome his daughter back with open arms, the way he had when Courtney's mother had returned home from the Academy.

"You don't have to talk to him," Duncan assured his girlfriend with a sigh. She looked up at him with glazed eyes, as if she was about to start crying at any moment. "Just be there." Courtney gave a defeated sigh ad nuzzled her head into Duncan's chest. This was the best she was going to get.

After waiting a few minutes for his girlfriend to calm down, Duncan pulled out his cell and dialed Nigel's number. Even though cell phone's were hard to come by in Scarlatina, Duncan always kept his close by.

"Relax, Princess," He said, kissing the top of her head, but quickly moving away as the phone got picked up on the other end of the line. "Hey, Nigel, what's up?" There was a short pause as Nigel talked and Courtney held her breath. She knew her father and her boyfriend had once been work friends back when they had both worked in the Scarlatinan Palace, but she never really known how close they were. "Yeah, that's actually why I'm calling." Another pause took hold. Everyone had silenced so they could hear the conversation. "So, can we count on you?" Another pause. "Why not?" Duncan whined down the phone like a four-year-old. "Come on, man! Pull yourself together!" To Courtney, it sounded as if they were a lot closer than they let on. There was an ever longer pause than before. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as they waited to hear what Nigel had said. Nigel was definitely a powerful sorcerer and having him on their side would no doubt give them a major advantage.

A smirk crept across Duncan's lips.

"Thanks, Nigel." The vampire hung up the phone and placed it back in his pocket.

"What did he say?" Courtney asked, looking up at his face.

"He'll be here tomorrow."

"Great," she muttered sarcastically. Everyone else let the relief wash over them.

"That's the spirit," Bridgette smiled, wrapping an arm around her best friends shoulders. Courtney groaned. She knew she would have to face her father sooner or later, but she would rather it be later- much later. Like when one of them was on their death bed so they couldn't say horrible things to the other.

Before anyone could comfort Courtney some more, a small dog-like creature made it's way over to the fountain and sagged against the marble. Ellie didn't even bother to turn back into her human form.

"Tired?" Geoff teased his sister who panted and whined in return. "It's your own fault. You wanted to help Leah train."

Ellie, very slowly, started to lose her brown fur as it turned back to her peachy complexion. Her pink t-shirt became visible as did her white denim shorts. Her paws turned into hands and bare feet and she rested her now fully human head against her sister-in-laws knees. Bridgette kept one arm around Courtney's shoulders and used the other to stroke Ellie's bright blonde hair. The pup looked exhausted.

"Did you talk to Tina?" Trent asked with a yawn. Gwen rested her head on his shoulder, needing badly to go for a hunt but feeling too drained to do so.

"She's in," Ellie replied, moving so she was flat on her stomach, face an inch away from the water. She greedily splashed some into her mouth her hand, disgusting everyone around her.

"We need to get back to training," Geoff told them, folding his sheet of paper up. A group groan spread across the teenagers. They didn't know how much longer they could train for.

* * *

"Wow!" Courtney exclaimed as twirled round and round, her brown hair flying all over the place. She was wearing a plain black outfit that consisted of a tube top and stretchy pants, so she could move easier during the war. "Bridgette, this outfit is amazing."

"It's nothing, really. I just threw them together in my spare time," Bridgette told the girls, being modest as always. Bridgette had had an eyes for fashion for as long as Courtney had known her, so it wasn't unusual that her best friend had thrown together some war outfits for them.

"I think they're amazing!" Taylor said, eyeing up her own outfit in the mirror. Her eyes were burning red and her porcelain fangs produced from either side of her mouth, but everyone was used to Taylor's bottomless appetite by now.

"I know," Gwen agreed from her spot on Bridgette's bed. The five girls were crammed into Bridgette's bedroom to get a look at the surprise she had told them about.

"This is going to be the most stylish war ever!" Izzy squealed, jumping up and down on the bed. Gwen rolled her eyes and moved before she fell off.

"Careful, Iz," Bridgette laughed at the red head. Bridgette herself was in fairy form, her usual blue dress replaced with an identical black one.

"Knock, knock." All five girls looked over to the door to see Duncan. "Damn, who died?" He asked, a smirk on his lips. Taylor threw a pillow at her cousins head, which he ducked to dodge.

"Can we help you with something?" Bridgette asked with a giggle.

"Nigel's at the gates, I'm here to escort Courtney down." Courtney sunk down onto the bed beside Izzy's feet. Her stomach clenched tight and the nausea she'd been feeling was back. This was the moment she'd been dreading; dealing with her father. "Just hurry up and get dressed."

Five minutes later, Duncan and Courtney were walking hand-in-hand down the cobbled street, heading towards the Black household. Duncan had received a message on his beeper letting him know his friend had arrived. He hadn't used a moving truck this time, he had half the stuff because Courtney wasn't with him.

"I don't think I can do this," Courtney told her boyfriend, catching sight of her father and stopping dead in the middle of the street. Duncan squeezed her hand tighter.

"You can talk to your dad, Princess," Duncan assured her. "He's not going to judge you like everyone else in town. He loves you."

"I haven't seen him in over a year!" The sorcerer reminded him. The vampire rolled his eyes. He knew how over dramatic his girlfriend could be sometimes. To him, she was making a big deal out of nothing, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell her that.

"Better late than never," Duncan muttered, starting to drag Courtney with him. She reluctantly followed him to the fountain. She hid behind the jets of water, making sure her father couldn't spot her.

Duncan headed towards the house while Courtney watched from her hiding spot. She noticed how easily the two most important men in her life acted. She still found it strange that they had known each other for such a long time. Then again, she still found it strange that she was a sorcerer living in a magic world that should only have existed in books and movies.

Courtney continued to watch as Duncan took one of the few cardboard boxes from the taxi cab and walked into the house. Nigel was still taking the boxes from the car and Courtney took it as her chance. There was no backing out now.

She stood back for a moment before clearing her throat. "Do you need any help?" She asked, not standing to close to the man who had raised her.

"Thanks, but-" He cut himself off as he turned around and came to face his daughter, not having recognized her voice from so much time apart. "What are you doing here?" He questioned, fully knowing about the Tracker ban in Scarlatina.

"I quit the Academy," Courtney admitted shyly. To her confusion, Nigel started laughing to himself. She looked at him, confusion all over her face. She didn't see the laughing matter in the situation.

"You are just like your mother," he told her, which Nigel knew wasn't Courtney's favorite thing to be told. Though, due to the fact he rarely mentioned her mother, she smiled. "She could never stick to anything, either."

The teenager rolled her eyes. "You're not mad?" Courtney asked. She would have expected some sort of rage from him. Not that he had ever been a strict man, in fact Courtney always thought she had drawn the longest straw when it came to fathers.

"Why would I be mad?" Nigel asked, still chuckling to himself. He raised an eyebrow at his only daughter.

"Because you have a daughter as stupid as me."

"If you were really stupid you'd still be at the Academy." It was Courtney turn to laugh. It felt good to laugh, she realized. It felt as if it had been a life time since she had last laughed without the thought of something more pressing down on her. The fact that her father

"Fair enough. So, do you need some help?"

x

The sun was beating down throughout the whole of Scarlatina and everyone could feel the heat sinking into their bones. There were only days left until the Tracker's attacked. They had sent Courtney another letter, letting them know ahead of time because the Tracker's had everything organised to a tee. Everyone in Scarlatina that was involved with the war has been training almost non-stop. Everyone except Taylor. Taylor was having her own problems.

"What do you thinks wrong with me?" She asked Geoff. The two were sitting outside by the fountain. Geoff had offered to take her back to the medical center, but Taylor was adamant they didn't have the time.

"Honestly, nothing." Geoff told her, taking a seat beside the vampire.

"Then how come I have no had a single vision since Courtney got back?" Taylor wanted an answer. She preferably wanted one where Courtney was depicted as the bad guy and could have all the blame pinned on her, though she knew that was a bit far fetched.

"Maybe you can't have any more visions," Geoff suggested with a shrug. He was usually a caring person, but he knew he had to take a different approach with Taylor.

"WHAT?" Taylor bellowed, the word bouncing off the houses in the small town, letting everyone around

"What I mean is, maybe the visions have been blocked from your head because you don't need them anymore." Taylor started panting heavily. She had no idea what to do without her visions. "Calm down, Tay, there is no need to get worked up about this."

"I am nothing without my visions!" She screamed, tears in her eyes. She had lived with her visions ever since she was turned, it was pretty much her whole life. Her day-to-day routine consisted of working everything around her visions. She didn't remember life without them.

"You're still Taylor, the very intelligent vampire who is a serious bitch sometimes, but is definitely worth more than just being able to see the future." Taylor nodded her head, taking in some deep breaths to calm her down a bit. "You'll learn to live without them."

Taylor turned to Geoff, her dark eyes casting a ominous glow. "Will you do me a favor?" Geoff nodded his head. "Give Courtney a check over."

"I'm sure she doesn't need it," Geoff replied. He knew Taylor was suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Please, for me?" The vampire begged. Geoff just had to give in to the puppy dog eyes she had pulled from her bag of tricks.

With a sigh, the Alpha replied, "Fine, we'll go see Courtney."

* * *

"Morning, daddy," Courtney greeted her father as he opened the door for her. It had been four days since Nigel had arrived back in Scarlatina. Courtney had visited her father twice a day, just to check up on them and so they could talk things over. It had been a long time since either of them had seen each other and they had much to catch up on.

"What's with the cheery visit this morning?" He asked with a wide grin across his face. There was just something about getting to spend time with Courtney that always had him smiling. He had truly missed her over the last year. They had always been thick as thieves when she was growing up, and though he had often traveled for work, they had never been apart for this long before. It had felt as if he had had his only good thing ripped from his life all over again. It was a pain he couldn't describe. But the way his daughters face lit up when he opened up the front door pulled at his heart in ways he knew no one else would understand.

"What? Can't I come visit my father without a reason?" Courtney questioned, hands on hips and eyebrow raised. She was half-serious, half-joking. There was something in particular she wanted to discuss today.

"No," Nigel told her blankly. "So, what do you want?"

"Well..." Courtney began nervously. "I was wondering if I could move back in with you." Not giving Nigel time to reply, Courtney sped up her words. "But, it's okay if you don't want me to because Bridgette's mom told me I could stay with her for as long as I need to because there is plenty of room and everything and-" Nigel slammed his hand over Courtney's mouth.

"If I say yes will you shut up?" Courtney nodded her head, unable to say anything with her father's sweaty palm still covering her mouth. "I guess there might be a spare room upstairs."

"THANK YOU!" Courtney screamed, wrapping her arms around her fathers neck, almost strangling him with gratefulness. "I'm gonna go pack!" Courtney squealed excitedly. "It's good to be home!" She jumped up and down on the spot for a moment before running outside and straight into Taylor and Geoff.

"Talking to your dad again?" Taylor asked, squinting her eyes in the sunlight.

"Yes! He's letting me move back in with him." Courtney announced proudly. "Nothing will ruin this moment."

"So, how about a medical examination?" Geoff suggested.

"Okay, moment ruined," Courtney looked between the two of them suspiciously. Geoff didn't usually hand out medical examinations freely. "I'm feeling fine, why do I need an examination?" Courtney asked.

"It's for Taylor's benefit. She thinks you're messing with her visions." The blonde cowboy explained. Courtney raised an eyebrow at Taylor. She knew Taylor didn't like her, but wasn't this a little too far?

"How could I be doing that?" Courtney was getting seriously confused as to why Geoff would even go along with Taylor's wacky plan.

"I don't know, but please just have a check over," Taylor pleaded. Taylor didn't plead often, and there was just something about the way she sounded, a hitch in her usually coolly confident voice that made Courtney wonder if this wasn't really a devious plan at all. Taylor had always been so happy and proud of her visions, Courtney didn't think she would use them as a way to get at her.

"Okay, but only because I'm in a good mood." The brunette sat on the garden wall to her house and Geoff pulled a small flashlight from his pocket. He shined in both of her eyes, making her see dots everywhere she looked.

"Everything looks fine. How many fingers am I holding up?" Geoff asked, holding his hand up.

"Five," Courtney told him confidently.

"Does she need glasses or something?" Taylor asked sarcastically.

"It's just some basic tests," Geoff told her. "Sit next to her, Tay." Taylor groaned, but dragged herself to sit on the wall beside Courtney.

"I don't see how this is gonna he-" But before Taylor could finish her sentence, her face was blank and her eyes were clouded over. She was having a vision.

* * *

Duncan was kneeling on the floor, his girlfriends head in his lap. Courtney was fragile, her tanned skin paling with ever dawning second. Duncan clutched onto one of her hands, but Courtney didn't have the strength to squeeze back.

"Courtney, no, Courtney, stay with me," Duncan told her, but it was too late. Courtney had slipped away. Taylor stepped forward and placed a sympathetic hand on her cousins shoulder.

"She's gone."

* * *

Scarlatina came back into focus, as did the faces of Courtney and Geoff. Before the vampire could help herself she yelled, "HOLY SHIT!" Her breathing quickened, confusing her friends. Before they could ask any questions, she was gone.

A/N: Wowzers.

I did remember to post this yesterday!

But I went out drinking instead...hmm...that says a lot about my priorities haha!

Thanks again to AHRedDeath and zebraprintlover101 for the wonderful reviews!

Thanks for reading, please review :D

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


	7. Problems Before It's Begun

**Chapter Seven**

**Problems Before It's Begun**

The gang had gathered at Bridgette's house, all squeezing into what had been Courtney's bedroom for the past few weeks. Now she was packing the last of her belongings away in her suitcase, the rest had already been taken away by Duncan to her father's house. The brunette was trying to do a quick job of packing, eager to live with her father again, but she was getting distracted by Taylor's constant staring. In the end she gave up and turned to face the vampire, "Taylor, you're freaking me out. Stop staring!"

"Sorry, I can't help it," Taylor answered, blinking a few times before turning her head to the floor where she was sitting. Courtney didn't return to packing, she was worried about her friend. Though the two weren't close, Courtney didn't want to see Taylor so upset.

"You've been giving me that look ever since this morning, ever since you had that vision." Everyone's heads turned to look at Taylor in perfect unison. Taylor hadn't mentioned it to any of them.

"You had a vision?" Duncan asked. Taylor nodded her head, not looking up. Taylor always told someone about her visions, but this one was tight-lipped. It was suspicious behaviour for the loud-mouth, so everyone knew something was up.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" She whispered, almost in tears as she thought back to what she had seen. She didn't want to be pressured into admitting it, hoping that if she forgot about it it wouldn't come true.

"Not okay!" Gwen replied. She had known Taylor for a long time, but she had never seen her like this before. "What did you see?" The goth girl questioned, jumping from her space on the bed onto the floor by Taylor.

Everyone waited in silence for Taylor to say something, but she didn't. Not for a long time, at least. She was deep in thought about the consequences of telling everyone about her vision. They would try to change the future, they would hide Courtney away, but Taylor knew it wouldn't work. Her vision almost always come true, even in ways you don't expect them to. Just because they kept Courtney out of harms way now doesn't mean it wouldn't happen later.

"I can't say," Taylor mumbled, her hand pressed firmly to her mouth. "And I mean it this time..." She trailed off a bit, but continued speaking after a moment. "When it comes, it'll happen." The young vampire wiped her eyes free of the tears. "No matter how much we don't want it to."

Geoff, who was now sat on the opposite side of Taylor to Gwen wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. "It would help if we knew what it was," he told her.

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Taylor yelled, shrugging Geoff's arm away and moving to the other side of the room, away from everyone.

What Taylor had seen wasn't something she was going to forget in a hurry. It was going to haunt her until the day came, but then the day was going to haunt her from then on. There was no escaping the fate, and for once in her life, Taylor wished she couldn't see the future.

"You don't have to tell us," Bridgette comforted. She, unlike everyone else, understood that Taylor was hurting over this particular vision. She had never had a particularly scary vision like this before. All of her visions had been trivial up until now, but suddenly Taylor felt as if things were going to change from now on and her visions were only going to get harder to look at.

"We just want to help," Trent told her. Taylor ignored their comments, nothing anyone could say would make it better.

"My visions come true 99% of the time," she explained, closing her eyes and letting the tears fall. "I really want this to be the 1%, but it's very unlikely. It's...it's too real to be the 1%."

"What if it's like the last vision you had about me?" Courtney inquired, thinking back to when Taylor had predicted that she would become a Tracker over a year ago now. "It can be undone."

Taylor shook her head. "Not unless you know someone who can perform miracles," she said, wiping her eyes. They were turning puffy from all the crying, her body wasn't used to it. Taylor was tough as nails as far as everyone was concerned, whatever this was definitely had her spooked.

"Was it taken out of context? Could you have the wrong idea about it?" Geoff tried to push Taylor for a few more answers. She was talking a little, and he would take everything he could.

"Very unlikely."

"How bad can it be?" Duncan shrugged, not as interested as the others. He thought she was just being overdramatic.

Taylor's eyes shot open and narrowed at her cousin. "How bad can it be?" She repeated, her words turning venomous. Before anyone could even blink, Taylor was sitting on the bed between Duncan and the suitcase, her hands on his shoulders, staring deeply into his eyes. "If that vision had carried on for one more second, I would have seen you crying, Duncan. That's how bad it can be."

"Then it's pretty serious," Gwen said, pulling her fellow vampire's apart. Everyone else was in stunned silence. Duncan crying? It seemed like an impossible thought. Duncan was older than time itself, he had seen everything there was to see, nothing was new to him anymore.

Taylor kept an eye on her cousin who looked more confused than ever. She moved back to where she had been previously, away from the others She wanted to be away from everyone, but they would never let her leave now.

"What would make Duncan cry?" Bridgette wondered out loud, her fingers toying with the end of her ponytail.

"I don't cry," the punk told her. Duncan hadn't cried in the longest of time, he couldn't even remember the last time he had.

"We know it has something to do with Courtney," Trent stated. "Do they break up again?"

Taylor gave the slightest of smiles. "If only that was it easy." Her face grew gloomy once again as she retreated back inside her brin, thinking over what the future was going to bring for them. The war was only days away and they all knew they were under prepared, but they were all going to fight with everything they had. They wanted to prove to the Tracker's that they didn't control them, once and for all.

"Are you still on team Tracker and planning to break Duncan's heart on the battle field when you team up with them to kill all the people in Scarlatina you befriended but haven't really?" Courtney hadn't even processed the words before she found herself pinned to the wall by a crazy redhead.

"N-No?"

"You don't sound so sure of that?" The crazed girl insisted, poking Courtney in the gut with a sharp finger.

"Izzy, how did you get in here? I thought I locked the window?" Bridgette asked, trying to pry Izzy away from her best friend.

"You did," was all Izzy replied. "So, tell us the truth, Courtney?"

"Izzy, I am not a spy for the Trackers. I do not plan on breaking Duncan's heart or joining up with the Trackers on the battle field or killing anyone in Scarlatina." Courtney was starting to panic. Who knew what the crazy girl was capable of?

The nutcase took a step back from Courtney, nodding her head once and leaving the bedroom through the door. The brunette wondered if she would ever understand that girl.

"It's not like you meant to do it anyway, it's just one of those things." Taylor spoke as if she hadn't just see the scene that had happened.

"Did Courtney actually do it, or is she just the victim like Duncan?" Geoff asked, yet again trying to get more information out of Taylor.

"I'm not sure of what actually happened because I didn't see a lot of it. But...but, I think it was a Tracker." Everyone, once again, turned to face Taylor in unison. They knew they were in big trouble now.

* * *

Courtney was curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on the caps. Tears were running down her cheeks and in her hand was a white sheet of paper. The sorcerer was sobbing quietly to herself when Nigel entered the room.

"Courtney?" Nigel spotted his daughter on the sofa, and then he noticed the letter in her hand. "Would you stop reading that if it's only going to upset you," he told her, a serious look on his face. Nigel wasn't serious about a lot of things, but he never wanted to see his daughter hurting like this.

"I'm not upset," the girl lied, wiping away her tears and folding the letter up. "I'm going out." Before Nigel could protest, Courtney was out the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry I-"

"Where you off to in such a rush, Princess?" Duncan asked. In her attempt to escape her father, Courtney had run straight into her boyfriend, who had been on his way to see her.

"Uh...Nowhere!" She quickly replied. "See you later." Courtney gave Duncan a quick peck on the lips before speeding off again towards the main gates.

The very confused vampire turned to face Nigel, who was standing in the doorway. He simply shrugged. "She's gets weirder everyday."

* * *

Bridgette and Izzy were lingering around outside the Scarlatina gates, catching up on fight plans. Courtney came speed walking towards them and didn't look like she was going to stop.

"Hey, Court, where you off to?" Bridgette asked, spotting her friend.

"Uh...just for a walk," Courtney told her.

"I could go for a walk," Izzy said, jumping to her feet in her usual energetic way.

"Yeah, not that kind of walk." Courtney swung open the gate and started running away from her home town.

"Courtney...UGH!" Bridgette called after her friend, but she was already gone. Something was up.

* * *

The train station in the city center was at least half the size of Scarlatina. It was shabby and old, and the trains still ran on coal, but it got you where you needed to go. It wasn't crowded like Courtney had expected, but she was glad to have almost complete privacy. She was sat on a bench beside one of the few tracks. The train she wanted to catch was only a few minutes away and she couldn't wait to get on it.

"Not long now, "she told herself, needing some reassuring words. "As long as you don't get caught you can stay for as long as you like." When a few passers by started giving her strange looks for talking to herself, she switched to her thoughts instead.

_'Why is this so difficult? Why couldn't I be an ordinary girl and do all this without the hassle?' _The brunette whined internally. She was starting tp panic._ 'What if I do get caught? I MIGHT DIE! Maybe this is a bad idea...'_

"It's not a bad idea- a stupid one, but not bad." Courtney, wide eyed, turned to the person who had now occupied the seat on the bench beside her.

"Gwen!" She squeaked "I was just..." But, Courtney couldn't think of anymore lies. She didn't like lying to everyone, but somehow she didn't think they would support her crazy decision.

"Going to visit your mothers grave?" Gwen finished for her, "I know." If it was a year earlier, Courtney would have been shocked, but now she had become more aware of everyone's powers, as well as her own. Gwen could still read minds.

"Been spying on me?" Courtney inquired.

"Everyone's worried about you, that's all. You went AWOL this morning and you have been acting funny for a while," Gwen told her. The thing about their relationship was that they were bluntly honest with each other. It was true, though. Courtney had been acting funny all week. Her birthday was coming up, a few days after the war was scheduled to start. Courtney didn't know how long wars went on for, but she hoped it wasn't as long as the hundred year war.

But that wasn't what was bothering Courtney. What bothered her was that three weeks and two days after her birthday was the anniversary of her mothers death. Usually it passed by with Nigel taking a day to himself and Courtney staying well out of his way. She had never cared for her mothers death before, as far as she was concerned it had happened before she was old enough to know what was going on. She had always felt bad about not feeling the pain of losing a mother.

This year was different, however. After being at the Academy Courtney had learnt a great deal about her mother. She felt more connected now, not by much, but enough to feel differently.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," the sorcerer apologized. "I thought you'd try to stop me, but I want to go. I've only been once and that was when I was at the Academy, so it wasn't difficult."

"I wouldn't try to stop you," the goth said. "I used to visit my parents graves all the time. I know how you feel."

"Your parents are dead?" Courtney asked, a little shocked at the fact they were. She didn't know a lot of her friends parents, and those who she didn't never really spoke about their family. Courtney never brought it up, no one did.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "They weren't vampires, just ordinary humans. But they died a few centuries ago now, so I stopped going after a few years." The price of living forever wasn't lost on Courtney. She didn't know if she could handle watching her father die, her best friend die, everything she knew now would change when she would not.

They were silent for a while, both stuck in thought. The train was running late, Courtney noted.

"Do you miss your mom?" Gwen finally asked.

"I never knew her," she replied honestly. "She died when I was three weeks old, she didn't even get to name me. How can you miss someone you don't know?"

Gwen thought for a moment. She unsure whether to raise the topic with Courtney, she had never told anyone before. But now felt good, like the right time to get it off her chest.

"I never knew my father," she told her. "He died before I was born, but I still miss him." Courtney was silent for a moment too long. She hadn't expected Gwen-of all people-to understand how she felt. "He was a sailor back in the 1800's. Lost at sea. My mother never fully recovered after his death."

Courtney nodded. Though she didn't think that their situations were quite the same, Gwen sounded more forlorn over her mothers inability to heal. Courtney knew that her father hadn't gotten over her mothers death, and probably never would, but he was able to go about with his life.

"I guess-" Courtney paused, biting on her lip. "I guess I miss my mom a little bit. But she was Tracker, anyway..."Courtney quietened her voice down at the mention of her mothers past, just in case anyone around was listening.

"So?" Gwen said. "She was still your mother, Tracker or not. You were a Tracker not that long ago, and we'd all still miss you if you died."

The steam engine pulled up in front of the two girls, but they just looked up a it. Courtney's eyes felt heavy the longer she looked at it and her brain was doing all sorts as it tried to sort through the jumble mess she called her thoughts.

"Are you going?"

Slightly hesitant, Courtney nodded. She turned to Gwen, knowing she was the only person she'd want to do this with. "Come with me," she asked. Gwen nodded her reply and the two ran to find an empty carriage.

* * *

Night was starting to draw in and the sun was going down over Scarlatina. Courtney and Gwen found their way through the gates and started heading towards the Black house in comfortable silence. Unfortunately, to get there, they had to pass the fountain where they found their friends waiting.

"And where exactly have you two been?" Duncan asked in a fatherly tone. Gwen rolled her eyes and Courtney chewed her lip. Seeing how nervous Courtney was, Gwen shot Duncan a glare. He knew not to push, and so did everyone else.

Before they had to explain themselves, the man from the gate showed up behind them, "I have a letter here for Courtney Black." He squinted a little bit, trying to read the writing some more. "Yeah, Courtney Black."

"Thank you," Courtney smiled, receiving the letter from the man. He gave her a nod of his head and walked away, going back to his post. Courtney stared down at the letter in her hand, her face blank as she read the return address. "Heather..."

"What did she say now?" Gwen asked, leaning forward to get a better view of Courtney. The brunette only shook her head, thrusting her hand out.

"I'm not reading it."

Geoff pushed her hand back to her. "Your letter, read it."

"Someone?" Courtney looked around hopefully. "Anyone?" But no one spoke up.

"Give it here." Duncan stole the letter from his girlfriend, tearing it open with his finger nail. "Dear Duncan."

"She knew I wouldn't open it after the last one," Courtney whispered shock, and slightly impressed.

"I am pleased to inform you that you and your friends are going to army has come together and they know their orders to kill every last one of you pathetic freaks. Except for Courtney, that bitch is mine. I can't wait to meet you on the battle field, yours sincerely, Heather George." Duncan crushed the white paper in his bare hands and dropped it to the floor in anger, stomping it out as if it had caught fire.

"Well, that wasn't very nice., Lindsay said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Since when has Heather been nice?" Gwen pointed out.

"She's gonna kill us! We're all gonna die!" Ellie shouted out, being the drama queen she was. Geoff wrapped one arm around his baby sister, trying to get her to calm down a bit.

"Ellie, we are not going to die. You can't think like that, she wont kill us!"

"She's all mouth, no action," Leah spat, disgusted that Heather would even bother to send a letter like that.

"But what if she does?" Bridgette asked, worried for her friends and herself. This was a war, a real live action war. People were going to get hurt.

Taylor jumped to her feet on the fountains edge. "THEN WE DIE A HERO, FIGHTING FOR THE FREEDOM WE ALL WANT!" She shouted out to her friends, trying her best to not look at Courtney.

"Easy for you to say, YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD!" Trent yelled back.

"So what if I am?" Taylor asked, throwing her hands in the air. "I will still fight, I will still defend!" She thrusted her fist as if fighting with a sword.

"Just because we're dead it doesn't mean we can't get seriously hurt," Gwen told Trent, backing up Taylor. Trent knew that his girlfriend and other undead friends could easily get hurt, but they couldn't actually die. There was very few ways to kill a vampire, and so far the Tracker's hadn't come up with one- or so he hoped.

"Yeah, but you guys can't die like us!" Ellie shouted, and a huge argument erupted between everyone. They all debated if Vampire's should be the only ones to fight or not, because everyone else was at serious risk of death. The truth of the situation was only sinking in now.

"Courtney, what's wrong?" Bridgette asked, noticing her best friends quietness. No one else stopped arguing.

"What if one of us does die? It'll be all my fault! I caused this! The only reason this is happening is because I left the Academy!" Courtney was getting very upset and Geoff could see it in her eyes- she was the most scared out of everyone. The leader jumped up beside Taylor on the fountain and whistled as loud as he could. The noise rang out, covering every inch of Scarlatina. But, it did get everyone to shut up.

"Everyone stop saying we're gonna die! We won't die, we'll win the fight! This war is ours to own!"

* * *

A/N: Almost ending now...

There may be a bit more of a gap between RL and TFIO because I haven't had time to write TFIO yet because of NaNo...Hope that is okay with you...Then again, we still have four weeks until I would upload the first chapter, so we'll see how things go, huh?

Thank you to Sadie Loves DxC, zebraprintlver101 and AHRedDeath for the amazing reviews!

Thanks for all the congratulations on NaNo, and I should probably state, after the last AN, that I am of legal age to drink, and this is my first time consuming any alcohol since June so...I was in good reason! XD

Thanks for reading, please review :)

Love, ChleRhiannonX


	8. The Final Battle: Part 1

**Chapter Eight**

**The Final Battle**

**Part One**

The day Heather had chosen for the battle had come far too quickly. Everything about the war had been orchestrated by the Tracker herself, which did leave some suspicion as to what she was up to. Heather knew what she was doing.

The group of Scarlatinan's who were pursuing this battle had gathered at the Black household. Most people were running around, checking everything was in order- weapons were working, people knew the plan etc. Others were saying their final prayers before they headed off to war, knowing that not everyone may make it back alive. It was a mad house, to say the least, but everyone kept themselves busy.

"Have you got everything?" Bridgette asked, she was one of the people running around. Bridgette couldn't keep still, if she kept still then she would suddenly remember that she was off to risk her life. Fairies were usually peaceful people, and if this fight revolved anyone other than her best friend than Bridgette would have stayed miles away.

"Yes, Bridge, we do," Geoff answered, attempting to wrap his arms around her, but she just shrugged him away, moving away to check on something else. Geoff heaved a sigh. He wanted to spend what could be his last moments with his girlfriend, but she was determined to not think like that.

Courtney was sat in the window seat of the spare bedroom. The room had been collecting dust for years since no one needed it (Nigel was renting it off his brother). The brunette was fixated on a spot just beyond the oak tree that took up much of her back yard, completely oblivious to the scene going on in the rest of her house.

"It was nice of your dad to let us set up here," Bridgette told her best friend from the doorway. She had been watching her for a moment before she had spoken, worried of what was going on inside of Courtney's mind. Bridgette knew that she was blaming herself for everything that was going on.

"Yeah," Courtney muttered, "nice." She didn't really care for her fathers hospitality, she was too busy over thinking about what the rest of the day had in store.

"Courtney, what's wrong?" Bridgette asked, moving to take a seat beside Courtney.

"Nothing," the sorcerer lied. "I'm fine."

Bridgette shook her head. "No you're not, nothing about this is fine." The fairy placed her hand on top of Courtney's. "I know you don't want to do this as much as the next person, but we have to." Courtney turned to Bridgette with sorrow-filled eyes.

"I'm not worried about fighting," Courtney told her, their eyes locking in pain. "The Tracker's trained me to fight, it feels like the only thing I know how to do anymore. I'm...I'm okay with fighting." The brunette turned her head back to the window with a sigh. "I'm worried about losing you guys," she admitted, and she wasn't lying about it. Courtney was really scared of losing one of her friends, or even someone who just wanted to fight for her. It would be all her fault if anything happened and she didn't know if she could bear that much guilt.

"You're not going to lose us," Geoff interrupted the two. He didn't want anyone talking that way just before the big fight, especially Courtney. She was supposed to be the backbone of this whole operation, though Geoff didn't see it that way. Courtney was just as scared as everyone else, but he knew she had a reputation to uphold.

"As long as you're around, so are we," Gwen told her with a one-armed hug.

"You make it sound like I'm in charge," Courtney told them, her heart still not in it. That was exactly what Geoff was worrying about.

"This is your fight, you are in charge," Duncan told her, jumping in through the open window and scaring everyone half to death. Courtney sighed and turned her head towards the floor.

"My fight..." Courtney knew it was her fight. No one else should have been involved. It should have been just her and Heather, face-to-face, man-to-man, fighting it out the old fashioned way. There really had been no need for a war to start because of it.

"I didn't mean you had to do it alone." Duncan jumped down beside Courtney and wrapped an arm around her as Gwen moved away. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, fighting her thoughts.

_'I'd rather do it alone.' _The sorcerer thought to herself. Duncan was about to tell her it was a stupid idea when Lindsay burst in.

"PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!" She shouted out. Mermaids were the peace keepers between the different worlds, they would do anything to keep peace between everyone. "Stop it before it begins!" And Lindsay was their spokesperson.

"It's already started, Lindsay," Gwen told her with an uncaring shrug.

"Not officially," Lindsay protested.

"You didn't want anything to do with this, so stay out!" Leah snapped at her. The red head was really getting into the battle, and they hadn't even gone out on the field yet.

"You shouldn't want anything to do with it, either." The blonde sounded like she was on the verge of tears, but not very many were caring about Lindsay's wishes. She had been trying since the war was announced to call it off, and everyone had slowly gotten sick of hearing her voice saying the same thing over and over again.

"We want to, Lindsay," Ellie told her. The young werewolf was sitting on the floor in the corner, unnoticed by most people. "This is us fighting for our rights." Before the argument could go any further, Nigel Black's voice came loudly from downstairs.

"DUNCAN, DOWN HERE NOW!" He yelled and everyone went quiet, slowly turning to face the vampire boy, who was still comforting his girlfriend.

"What did you do?" Courtney asked, moving her head away and turning to face him.

"Only one way to find out," he replied and ran from the room in a blink of an eye. Everyone, once they realized he had gone, followed suit and ran down the stairs after him.

"You have visitors." Nigel nodded towards the front door. Standing there were Duncan's three siblings; Rebecca, Derick and Phoebe.

"What are you doing here?" Duncan asked, knowing that Rebecca should have been showing up around this time, but Derick and Phoebe weren't.

"TALK TO HER!" Rebecca yelled, pointing her finger to her younger sister. Everyone's head turned to face an angry looking Phoebe.

"Talk some sense into her," Derick told Duncan, almost like an order. Duncan took it as one too, though Courtney was shocked to see that he didn't bite back at his brother for giving him an order, and instead turned to Phoebe.

"Phoebe, we've talk about this." Duncan narrowed his eyes at the younger girl and took a step towards her. "You. Will. Not. Fight!"

"I am seventy years old, Duncan, I am not a child. I'M STAYING!" The angered brunette told her older brother.

"That's not an option!" Rebecca pointed out, getting just as mad.

"YES IT IS!" Phoebe protested, almost whining like a child. "I CAN'T EVEN DIE!"

"She does have a point," Gwen said, butting in from the staircase. Duncan shot her a look before turning back to his family.

"FINE!" Duncan spat at his little sister. "But you're doing it on my terms..." Courtney pushed her way forward, knocking her boyfriend out the way. She looked over her shoulder at Duncan.

"My fight, my terms," she told him, before turning back to Phoebe. "You can fight, but don't get hurt and stay as far away from a second death as possible."

"Stay away from Duncan, got it." Phoebe nodded with a smile. Duncan moved forward, wanting to start a fight there and then with Phoebe, but Courtney put her hand on his chest to stop him. Duncan grabbed Courtney's wrist and pulled her out of ear shot of everyone else.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked. "You're sending my little sister to death!"

"She's dead anyway," Courtney replied, as if she really didn't care.

"You know what I mean..." Duncan was worried about his sister. She was only fifteen in his eyes, and would be for the rest of eternity, but Duncan treated her as if she was only just fifteen, and he didn't want his baby sister to get hurt.

"Duncan, you have to trust me on this." There was true sympathy in her voice. "I can't make no promises, but we can keep her out of all the dangerous action."

"It's a war, whatever happens, it happens without warning."

"So you understand me." Courtney walked back to the others, leaving Duncan confused. He slowly made his way back over to the group behind his girlfriend.

"We ready for war?" Gwen asked, looking around at everyone.

"LET'S DO THIS!" Courtney shouted out, a large smirk on her face. But, on the inside, she was still uneasy about the whole thing.

* * *

The two rivaling groups met up on the outskirts of both their towns, on a far side of Growlen that no one would dare think to explore, so there was no way to get caught by the Growlen officials. It was a large field, where the grass was browning and the smell of death was already in the air. Courtney's stomach was flip-flopping.

"Oh look, she's brought back up," Izzy told the group as they came face-to-face with the trackers. "JUST MORE PEOPLE FOR IZZY TO HURT!"

"Keep it real, Izzy," Taylor warned her ginger friend. The Trackers were silent, staring down their opponents. Courtney pushed her way forward until she standing in front of everyone else.

"Why are we doing this, Heather?" She asked her ex-friend.

Heather was silent for a moment, before answering in her harsh tone. "It's pay back time, Courtney Black," she spat. "You should have never walked out on me, on everything you could have had."

"I told you, I'd rather be with my friends rather than turning them in." Heather narrowed her eyes. Courtney kept her wits about her, she didn't trust Heather on little bit. There could very well have been a sneak attack on its way.

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT!"

"Yeah," Courtney replied with a shrug, just a hint of sympathy in her voice. "I could have been." It really was no lie of what Courtney's potential was. "But I didn't want to be."

"Are we gonna talk all day?" Izzy butted in, she was getting irritable. All the crazed girl wanted to do was fight. Taylor turned to Izzy, bright red eyes shining.

"Shut it!" She hissed, kicking Izzy in the leg. Izzy stuck her tongue out and turned back to the front.

"It doesn't have to be this way, we can call the whole thing off," Geoff told the opposing team, but they were having none of it. This fight was going to be to the death.

"NO!" Heather screamed at them. "I am doing this because you freaks shouldn't be among us!" Her words tore through everyone, only making them more ready to fight.

"The only freak I can see is you!" Phoebe shouted back, earning a glare from her older brother. What a way to stay clear of a second death.

"Wow, you must be desperate," Heather teased. "You even brought in the baby vampire." A few sniggers washed over the Trackers, before Heather held up her hand to silence them.

"Leave them alone, Heather!" Courtney yelled at her enemy. "I'm the one you want."

"I WANT ALL OF YOU!" Heather screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice screeching.

"They haven't done anything!" Courtney cried out. "Unlike me..." Her voice trailed off, as if she had done something desperately wrong and she just didn't want to remember it.

"Courtney, you haven't done anything," Trent told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Everyone was now seeing how upset Courtney was, including the Trackers.

"Oh, you haven't told them, Courtney?" Heather was faking the shocked voice. Courtney tried to avoid everyone's eyes, keeping her focus solely on Heather, unable to face any of her friends.

"What have you done?" Duncan harshly whispered in her ear. His voice was concerned, like a parent that wanted their child to confess to something they already knew they had done.

"I don't want to discuss it right here, right now!" Courtney snapped at him without meaning it. She was just frustrated with all the stress that everyone just kept piling on her. They were all in the middle of a war and they were sorting out problems then and there.

"ARE WE GONNA FIGHT OR NOT?" Izzy screamed over the silence. With a single battle cry, Izzy charged forward, soon followed by everyone else.

The field was turned into a battle field in an instance. Everyone was fighting each other, not a single person was left. Everyone had a dueling partner, and it just got bloodier and bloodier with each passing moment.

* * *

After everyone had, had enough, both sides retreated to a safe zone. It was as if they were school kids, hiding on each side of the playground from each other afer a big blow out.

Geoff sat on a table in the corner of a large, white tent, blood trickled down his face and every other part of his body. There was a seat set up beside him and Bridgette was sitting there. Geoff, being the kind boyfriend he was, was wiping the blood from his girlfriends face before attending to himself.

"OW!" Bridgette cried out. "Please, be careful." She screwed her face up as Geoff dabbed at the sore spot on her cheek. She hadn't wanted to get caught up in all of this in the first place, but she couldn't leave her best friend in a war by herself.

"We're losing, big time!" Rebecca said, she was limping around the tent, unable to sit still. Her face was black and blue, but she wasn't letting it get to her. Rebecca was tougher than she appeared.

"We're evenly matched," Derick told his sister, holding a cold compress to her forehead. He was untouched. He had sat out during the fight, stayed in the tent the whole time, like a coward.

"So we're gonna keep fighting till we all die!" Rebecca shouted out, she was really letting the fight get to her.

"Becky, calm down, we'll be fine." Phoebe looked dreadful. Her eyes were turning black and her arms were scratched and bloody. She was one awful sight. She had definitely gotten the worse side, much to Duncan's dismay.

On the other side of the tent, Courtney was standing by the door, looking out onto the blood filled field. Duncan swung round on one of the poles, leaning over to Courtney.

"Hey, Princess," he smiled, breathing the words into her ear. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Courtney replied quietly. She looked pretty beaten up, but she couldn't feel any pain. The thumping in her head over took everything else.

"No you're not." Duncan stood up straight and tried to hug his girlfriend, but she held her hand up to stop him.

"I SAID I'M FINE!" She snapped at the same time. But, as before, she didn't mean to. Everything was getting to her. Just looking around at the injured in the tent, it upset Courtney to know it was her fault. But shouting out also lead everyone to stare at her. "This is all my fault. All of it is. None of this would have happened if I wasn't so stupid."

"Don't talk like that!" Taylor told Courtney from the opposite corner of the tent.

"Why not?" Courtney shrugged her shoulders. "It's the truth."

"You mat have started this by doing the stupidest thing ever," Gwen piped up, making Courtney feel even worse about her self. "But you did the right thing to come back."

"Heather might not be able to see that, but we can," Leah told her cousin, which was the only compliment passed between the two since they had met.

"We're in this together, until the end." Trent said, and everyone nodded their heads, before going back to what they were doing before, believing that Courtney believed them.

"I am so stupid..." Courtney whispered to herself, sitting down on the edge of a table.

"Come on, Court," Geoff said, taking her hand in his. "Let's get you cleaned up." He led her over to his doctor's table and sat her down in the chair where Bridgette had once sat. She held her arm to Geoff and he started mopping up the blood.

"Before this started, what did Heather mean?" Geoff asked. Courtney turned her head away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered.

"Yes you do," he told her, rinsing out the rag. "You've done something wrong. Now tell me, what is it?"

* * *

A/N: So this is it...the final battle...WHO'S EXCITED FOR WHAT COMES NEXT?!

I can tell you all now, that the people who read the original series are not excited...We all know what comes next, huh? ;)

As for the people who haven't read the original series...*three fingered District 12 salute*

Thank you to AHRedDeath and zebraprintlover101. You guys rock!

See you at the finale in one week's time...

Thanks for reading, please review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


	9. The Final Battle: Part 2

**Chapter Nine**

**The Final Battle **

**Part Two**

"I don't feel comfortable talking about it." Courtney wiped her free hand against her bruised eye, trying to stop the tears from forming, but only wincing in more pain when she came in contact with the bruising.

Geoff understood that she couldn't be pushed, but he was still going to try. "Are you sure?" He asked, "It might help."

The younger girl chewed on the inside of her cheek, contemplating what to do."I feel bad about it," Courtney blurted out. She sucked her lips together for a moment, before accepting that she needed to tell someone. "I never should have done it." Geoff stopped dabbing the wet cloth at Courtney's arm, but didn't break their eye contact.

"Just tell me, please, Courtney." Courtney couldn't hold his gaze. She moved her head down to the floor, casting her hair over her face in shame.

"I ratted you guys out." Tears were definitely starting to fall now. "The reason we're evenly matched is because they know our every move." Courtney sobbed silently to herself. "And now we're all going to die because of me and my big mouth."

Duncan was at her side in an instant. He had been standing on the other side of the tent, but couldn't have helped but to listen in on the conversation between his girlfriend and best friend. Needless to say, he wasn't so forgiving as Geoff.

"HOW COULD YOU?" He shouted out, turning heads towards the three of them.

Courtney was used to him appearing out of nowhere by now, but the loudness of his voice caused her to jump out of her chair. "It was a mistake. I'm sorry," she cried out, pleading for him to not make a scene.

"No." The vampire shook his head. "The mistake was letting you back here." Courtney wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Duncan, I'm sorry." By now everyone had their eyes fixed on the arguing couple. "I really am. All of this happened before I came back,before I'd decided to come back, before you even came to the Academy and talked me out of everything."

"Let's face it, because of you it's all over between us and them." Duncan's eyes were harsh on Courtney. "And it's over between us." Without another word uttered, Duncan had run off without anyone seeing him.

Courtney lowered her head to the floor and everyone else went back to whatever they were doing, whispering about what had just happened. Gossip would spread like wildfire between the small group of people.

Geoff pulled Courtney into a hug. The only thing the brunette could do was sink into his chest. Her sobbing only got worse and the tears just kept flowing down her face and onto Geoff's t-shirt.

"I'm sorry..." Courtney muttered.

"It's okay," Geoff whispered in her ear. Courtney broke out of the hug, wiping her eyes.

"Thank you." She smiled weakly at Geoff and walked away, taking a seat beside her father on the opposite side of the tent. "Why is life horrible?" She asked, not letting her eyes touch his.

"You remind me so much of your mother." Nigel told his daughter, draping his arm around her back. "She was the sort of person to start a war, too." Not even a smile cam across the young girls lips.

"But, if she had, she would have been on the opposing team." Nigel smiled down at his daughter, pulling her closer to him.

"No, she was on this team," he replied, though he didn't look thoroughly convinced by his own words. "Even more so after her death, I suppose." This caused Courtney to look up to her father. She had always been told that her mother was a Tracker. There was no way all the stories had been a lie. "Before you were born, your mother was a Tracker." That much Courtney knew. "But, like you, she quit the Academy and came home to Scarlatina." The look on Courtney's face went from confused to interested. She had never heard her father talk about her mother so much before. She really wanted to know about her. "But, back then leaving the academy wasn't allowed. So, they had her killed."

"You've never told me that before." Courtney's voice was barely above silence, but Nigel could understand what she had said. He had never talked about his wife his daughter while she was growing, out of fear of exposing more than what he wanted Courtney to know.

"I didn't think you were ready for it. But now you are."

On the other side of the tent, Geoff and Bridgette were reunited, trying to sort out the health care together. There just was too many injuries for Geoff to mop up by himself.

"You sure you want to do this, Bridge?" The blonde fairy nodded her head and Geoff let out a loud wolf whistle. "Everyone close your eyes for a moment." Everyone obeyed Geoff's order and shut their eyes tightly. Bridgette lifted herself off the floor and flew above everyone's heads in a complete circle, throwing down a shining powder.

The worn out fairy collapsed into a chair beside Geoff, who was smiling down at his girlfriend.

"Open your eyes, now." Geoff called out and, like before, everyone listened to him. They were amazed at how quickly all the cuts and bruises that had once covered their bodies had cleared up. Their skin was back to it's softness, no battle scars left behind.

"You're a hero, Bridge!" Taylor called out to her friend, running her hand over the spot where a large slash had once been.

"I try my best." She called back, tired out from using all her powers. She was ready for a nap.

"OKAY!" Duncan shouted out and everyone gathered around a table that had been set out in the center of the room. "Thanks to little miss stupid here, we need a new plan."

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asked, her eyes shifting between the ex-couple.

"I'll explain later-I promise I will-but for now we need a plan." Courtney said, her voice slightly hoarse.

"One we don't already have," Duncan added.

"I say we just go out there and kick butt!" Taylor shouted out, jumping up onto the table, crossing her legs indian style.

"I like it!" Izzy piped up. She had been very disappointed when the war had stopped, she was the only one enjoying herself out there.

"We need structure." Trent told the over-excited redhead. That made Courtney snap. She couldn't take any more of what she was hearing and jumped straight up onto the table, so everyone could see her.

"I am finished with all this 'we' stuff!" The angered girl shouted out. "I don't want you guys involved anymore. I've _never_ wanted you guys involved."

"We're in this together," Phoebe told her, but she quickly bit back her words.

"This is MY fight," Courtney told everyone, turning so she could see each person. "I don't want any help. I am done sacrificing everyone's lives to protect my own." She jumped back down off the table, everyone's eyes still on her. "I'm going to finish this the only way I know how." Courtney turned on her heel and walked out of the tent.

"What is she going to do?" Ellie asked, just as worried as everyone else.

"She's walking into her own death," Duncan whispered, before coming to his own senses and running after Courtney.

Courtney was almost halfway across the field when Duncan found her. She was storming away, head first into a battle she was no where near prepared for.

After so long together, she could feel his presence behind her. "I said I'm doing this alone!" The brunette shouted at him.

"Who are you trying to kid?" He questioned the girl. "You can't do this alone."

"If I die, I die, end of my story." Courtney shrugged it off like it was no big deal to her, or anyone else. "But I die fighting for the rights my mother never had." Courtney's mind was made up, and Duncan could see that. So, he went to his last resort.

"I knew your mother," he told her, and Courtney stared him right in the eye, trying to figure out if he was lying. Somehow, she knew he wasn't. Duncan and Nigel had been friends for a long time, but he had never mentioned her mother to her. She suspected her father had something to do with that.

"I've been around for almost three thousand years, Court," he reminded her.

"Of course you have," she sighed, looking down to her feet. She was starting to feel stupid. Everyone seemed to know more about her life than she did. If she got out of this alive, she was going to have a serious talk with her father about keeping secrets.

"You're just like her." That made Courtney look up again. Everyone had always compared her to her mother, but Duncan was the only one who hadn't. Until now. "determined to do what's right by putting others first. But she wouldn't want you to do this, trust me. She died protecting you, Courtney. Me and Nigel took you to Earth to keep you from dying at the hands of Tracker's."

"Scared I'm putting your good efforts to waste?" Courtney scoffed.

"Scared you're putting your life to waste."

Courtney swallowed hard, considering his words for a moment. "I don't care, Duncan." Courtney lied. She did care. "Just go back to the others. Please, for me." Duncan lifted his hand to Courtney's cheek and she placed her's on top. "Only if they attack, I want you to attack back. Please tell everyone that." Courtney leaned forward and gave Duncan a passionate kiss against his lips. Duncan wanted to stop her so badly, but he couldn't. Courtney continued walking.

* * *

Duncan was kneeling on the floor, his girlfriends head in his lap. Courtney was fragile, her tanned skin paling with ever dawning second. Duncan clutched onto one of her hands, but Courtney didn't have the strength to squeeze back.

"Courtney, no, Courtney, stay with me," Duncan told her, but it was too late. Courtney had slipped away. Taylor stepped forward and placed a sympathetic hand on her cousins shoulder.

"She's gone."

Everyone was silent. Everything in the world seemed to quieten down in respect for the lost soul. Time moved past too slow for Duncan. His mind was racing, but he kept his grip on Courtney's lifeless hand.

Geoff stepped forward and crouched beside his friend. He placed a kind hand on Duncan's shoulder and said, "We should get her back to base." And so the small group that had gone after Courtney, though too late, headed back to base with the young girls body.

Bridgette was the first to see them. "No..." She cried out softly, weeping for her lost best friend. Duncan laid Courtney on the table and everyone gathered around, mourning their loss.

Duncan still clutched at her hand, unable to part with her just yet. Nigel had fled the tent before they'd even fully arrived on site, not strong enough to face anyone. Bridgette was sobbing into Geoff's chest, and Rebecca was holding Phoebe tightly. No one spoke a word, all quietly paying their respects. They were all in denial; Courtney couldn't possibly be gone to them. But she was. No one was sure what exactly happened, the back-up team had arrived to find Courtney lying on her side on the floor, with Heather running off, cackling into the distance. Part of Taylor wanted to go after the Witch, but, much to her surprise, there was a bigger part of her that needed to check that Courtney was okay first. Even though Taylor knew better than everyone that she wasn't. There was a gaping wound in top middle of Courtney's back, sticky, red blood flowing onto the grass. The dagger was no where to be seen, but it was obvious it had been the weapon of choice.

"This is it!" Gwen wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I am fed up of Heather! This is the last straw." The vampire girl stormed out the front of the tent. Geoff ran after her, knowing she was about to do something stupid.

"What's the plan?" He asked as the two walked across the empty field, heading towards Tracker's base camp.

"There isn't one," Gwen replied, not taking her eyes off the Tracker base as they neared.

Heather was sitting in a deck chair, her feet up on some boys lap. She was laughing her head off, just like everyone else. But they all stopped when they saw Gwen and Geoff approaching.

Some of them grabbed their weapons, but Heather waved them down with a smirk running across her face.

"Oh, look," she giggled. "The back-up freaks." And everyone started laughing again.

"HAPPY NOW, HEATHER?" Geoff screamed at the leader of the group, not giving Gwen a chance to go first. The anger was starting to burn up inside of him. Geoff had been prepared for a calm talk through, but there was something about seeing Heather sitting there so smugly when she had just slaughtered their friend to death, it brought out another side to him.

"COURTNEY'S GONE FOREVER!" Gwen yelled. "CONGRATS, YOU GOT YOUR WISH!" Heather only smiled evilly at the two.

"No." She narrowed her eyes, "My wish is for all you freaks to end up like her. And I won't stop until that happens!" The bitch got up from her seat and stood right in front of the two opposers. "So round up your best fighters and I'll give you six months to prepare again. This war will continue until I have won."

* * *

A/N: Oh wow...what an ending...

Well, this is it...for now ;)

Final thoughts? Tear stained reviews?

Thank you to Sadie Loves DxC, Guest, zebraprintlover101, and, most importantly, AHRedDeath who, once again, has reviewed every single chapter!

You guys are the reason I keep writing this, so thanks a lot (:

New story is called The Going's On: The Fight is On, so keep an eye out ;)

See you in 3 weeks, on January 10th!

Thanks for reading, please, for one final time, review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


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